Goal
by Kiseki Lin
Summary: Who would have thought that things would be different with a female Sena? Can the East handle a female Eyeshield 21? How will Sena overcome the obstacles coming her way in the football world? How will others react knowing Sena's a girl?
1. The Beginning

_**Goal**_

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Eyeshield 21.

* * *

Author's Note: I notice that lately there have been a few more femSena fics showing up, sorry to add another. This has been in thoughts for the past month, and I hope you enjoy my own side of a female Sena story. The title of the story is the same as the third ending of the anime, an inspiration for this story.

* * *

"Eeek!! I'm going to be late!" A dark brown hair female quickly placed her mid-back hair into a high ponytail and promptly ran out of the door in an explosive dash, hoping she wasn't late in meeting her childhood friend at the school she was trying to get into, Deimon High.

"Sena-chan! Over here!" Sena turned around to see her childhood friend, Anezaki Mamori waving her right arm in the air, trying to get Sena to see her.

Sena made her way over, grabbing a sheet of paper out of her pocket. Nervousness swept over her features the closer she got to Mamori.

"What's your exam number?" Mamori quickly pulled Sena by the arm to get to the board, which determined if she made it into Deimon or not.

"Umm…021." Sena looked down on the paper. Sena could feel the pressure build and tried to turn tail, however, Mamori caught a hold of her first. "I'm going home. I failed anyway."

"We haven't even looked properly yet."

The two spent the next minute looking through the list of numbers, until Mamori pointed out her number. "There it is! There's 021! Well done Sena!"

A few tears of happiness fell from Sena's eyes as the two girls jumped up and down in excitement. "I made it!"

Thinking back to what Mamori just said, Sena spoke, "It's been a while since anyone complimented me. Usually they insult me or tell me to get better." Unconsciously, Sena raised a hand to her shoulder and rubbed it. She could still remember when _he_ nearly dislocated it from all the rough handling that went on between the tug o war he and his brother played recently when fighting over her.

Mamori broke Sena out of stupor by elbowing her lightly in the ribs, not noticing that Sena was acting a bit strange a moment previous. "And you used to be so horrible at math and English. I guess you owe it all to me, Mamori. We went through a lot to raise your grades."

_Yes, but I also had them. And they were worse th__an you when it came to helping someone else study_. Sena thought dryly, completely missing Mamori's fading sentence. Remembering all of her bullying back in elementary school, she realized. "We haven't gone to the same school since elementary school."

"Aren't you glad you get to walk to school with your older sister childhood friend?" Mamori smiled, and elbowed Sena once more, this time on the arm. Calming down, Mamori turned towards Sena, tears starting to glitter in her eyes. "Sena…con-" Mamori stopped abruptly, remembering something. "Oh yeah, I need to get you a school information packet!"

"Huh? What?" Sena's mind barely comprehended how fast Mamori turned away from her. Glancing once more where Mamori stood, she couldn't help but wonder. _Was she about to cry_?

"Whoa!" A shout came from behind Sena. She turned around only to see two guys throwing another guy into the air, shouting about how he made it into Deimon. Looking at the two throwing the guy into the air, Sena shivered. Something about the blond demonic guy struck her as familiar.

A light bulb went off in her head. _Of course_, she thought,_ they_ _warned me about him_.

"_Watch out for a demonic looking spiky blond guy. He blackmails, threatens, the whole thing except getting into fights. That was his job." A bald guy a year older than her, pointed to another who shared the same face, but had dreadlocks. "His name is Hiruma Yoichi; remember it and stay away and you should be fine. Then again, he might see a show of your legs and force you to join the team." _

"_If that fucking bastard does anything, let me know. I'll torture the fucker and then I'll kill him." The other gave a feral grin before the two left. They told her to be careful at Deimon on their way out, somewhat dreading on leaving her to face with Hiruma, alone._

Sena shuddered at the memory, the younger of the twin brothers sprouted off an aura of pure hatred at the mere mention of Hiruma's name. "I better find Mamori-neechan." Sena took another glance at Hiruma and sprinted off, not knowing that Hiruma saw her running, striking an interest within the devil genius.

* * *

Sena put the finishing touches of her school uniform and stepped back to examine herself in the mirror. What were his words about her looks? _You have an athletic body, hardly any rack, but a pretty face that makes up for it. You're definitely a chibi though._

Sena shook her head as she thought more of the uniform, a white undershirt with a green blazer on top with a knee length black skirt. Sena's tie was giving her some problems, however, having not worn anything like this previously. The blazer looked slightly bigger than her, and Sena remembered that Mamori bought her a bigger size, saying she'll grow into it. _I'm sorry that I'm so short_.

"Oh! I almost forgot my cell phone!" Sena walked over to her desk, picking up her cell phone. "After all, it was a present for making it in to this school….I feel so mature!" Sena looked through her phone book, seeing four names on there currently. She shook her head. _I doubt that anyone would call anytime soon. They're going to be busy with football practices and girlfriends, and Mamori probably doesn't need to call me_.

"Morning!" Sena turned around to see Mamori running to catch up with her. Mamori, taking a short look at Sena and fixed her tie, which was too loose. "Hey, that's too loose!" She pointed out the obvious as Sena just watched her do it, not bothering to fidget or fight back knowing it would be idiotic to do so.

In a few minutes, they continued on their walk to school. "Sena…this time you've gotta make some friends."

"Hey, I have friends!" Sena protested. Three names instantly popped into her head besides Mamori's.

"Are you talking about those Kanagawa boys I've heard you were hanging out with from Mihae-san? I meant get some friends from Tokyo who you can hang out with on a regular basis!"

It went silent for a moment as Sena sent Mamori an exasperated look. She realized that they were in Kanagawa, but they were still her friends. Well, she knew that two were for sure; the other still scared her at times.

"Hey! Why don't you join a club?" Mamori broke the silence. "You can't be so passive! If you join a club you'll even get to talk to upper-classmen." She slapped Sena on the back as a sign of encouragement.

"I'm not a little kid, you know!" Sena felt a little more discouraged. She only got along well with one person in her own age group, but he moved away only after a few weeks. The rest used to bully her until middle school where her _niisans_ took care of them.

"Oh! But there is this one guy! You shouldn't get mixed up with him for sure!! His name is Hiruma…" Mamori made a scary face at the mentioning of Hiruma's name, and she whispered it to boot.

_I wonder how this Hiruma character is really like_.

"Really, he's such a demonic guy that once he sets his sight on you he'll suck you dry to the bone before he's through."

Sena sweat dropped at Mamori's description. Nothing at all like their descriptions, but it seems that she too, felt disdain for this Hiruma. "I better remember that. His name is Hiruma-" Sena didn't even get to finish her sentence as the mere mentioning of Hiruma's name sent the people around her into panic frenzy.

"P-please you've gotta help me…he's coming." A random second year grabbed a hold of Sena's arms, which sent her dashing to the school, easily breaking out of his hold.

* * *

_Class work is as boring as always. How do they manage to last, this is hard_? The numbers on the paper made her head spin. The bell rung, officially declaring class was over. She filed away her homework for the day into her back pack, and took several papers out.

"Join a club, huh?" A Tea Ceremony paper lay on top. Sena didn't hesitate to imagine what they would say.

"_Aw, Sena, you're doing Tea Ceremony? How sweet…" More gushing happened._

"_Never knew you had it in you, Sena-chan." Laughter could be heard directly after._

"_If this is what you want?" Unsure and a twitch of an eyebrow for all the things she could choose._

"_You're fucking not doing it and even if you attempt it, I'd knock some fucking sense into ya. Use your damn legs fucking brat." An evil aura became blatant_.

_Why is it that every time I imagine him, he swears all the time_? Sena brought a hand to message the area near her temple, which started to ache. She flipped through the papers, the only ones capturing her attention was American Football and Track. _Maybe it's best if I do track. Hiruma's in American Football and they all said I needed to avoid him. Somehow, at the thought, I'm finding it impossible_. Sena thought back during the day. She caught sight of Hiruma at least five times.

A beep sounded from her cell phone. It was a text message from Mamori. **If anyone tries to make you their gopher, say'll you'll rock-paper-scissors them for it**!

"I told her…I'm not a little kid anymore! Plus, no one bullied me for the last three years, if anything I'd tell them and no doubt I'll have revenge." Sena pulled a face at the last thought. Her niisans had this strange ability to tell when she was lying or if anyone was bullying her, at that very moment. Their _Sena sense_ as one of them jokingly called it.

On her way towards the exit of the school, she caught sight of four guys running as if their lives depended on it. A familiar huge guy chased after them before giving up, looking downcast. Sena's eyes trailed back to the equipment that was flung off in the formers' attempts on getting out of there, a jersey, helmet, shoulder pads, rib pads, thigh pads. _Definitely American Football... I guess since it's been thrown in my face, and he looks so sad. _It was in that moment that Sena decided to approach the kind looking giant.

"Are you alright?" Sena stood in front of the giant nervously. Somehow, she knew that things won't bode well for her in the days to come.

The giant turned to face her, tears streaming down his face. "Are you here for American Football tryouts." Without a moment to spare, the giant pulled Sena into a nearby shack. Inside was completely filthy, but he pushed everything aside and offered Sena a seat on the chair. "Here! Have a seat. Make yourself comfortable!" The giant went over to where they had the beverages and asked, "Care for tea? Coffee? Or…?"

Sena was internally panicking. She did not expect to get dragged here. She only wanted to see if he was okay! "No…uh…that's…it's just that I'm not here for tryouts…"

"I see…that's okay, fine, really…please, gone ahead and enjoy your tea." An aura of despair radiated off of the giant, who bowed his head in submission.

_He's so disappointed_, Sena thought as she sweat dropped at the ludicrous of the situation.

* * *

Things seemingly settled down from there on out. Introductions that weren't made were fixed and Sena felt more comfortable than in the beginning. At least Kurita's aura of despair had vanished.

"How many dozens of sugar do you take?" He poured in more than a dozen of sugar cubes into his own teacup.

"No…uh…just one." Sena sighed, lifting a hand up pitifully. Sena took the time to get a clearer look at the room. The number 77 jersey caught her attention. _I'd be kinda cool to join, but the body contact will definitely hurt me_.

"I guess we'll only have two players again this year…and we have a game coming up too." Kurita gobbled up his creampuff, a sullen look on his face.

"Don't you need eleven players to play football?" Sena looked at him confused, wondering how they were going to play with only two people.

"You know about football? That's great!" His mood increased as Sena showed some knowledge of American Football. "For our games, we get 'support' players from other sports team." Kurita opened a drawer and took out a videotape. Walking over to the TV in the room, he inserted the videotape in the VCR.

"Here's a video of last year's game!"

It showed one of the players from Deimon getting tackled rather brutally while another injured his shoulder in a dive. "Hey, he doesn't look so good! Get a stretcher!"

Kurita let out a light laugh, trying to rid the atmosphere of its tenseness. "Both of them fainted and had to be taken away. In the end we lost, but it was fun! That was our last year's practice game against the Ojo White Knights!"

_Th-this sport is definitely not for me…_ Sena turned away, sipping her tea with a frightened look on her face. _I can't handle body contact like those tackles. I'd die!_

"By the way," Sena took a peek at Kurita, "is it even allowed for females to play American Football?"

"Of course." Kurita beamed, smiling down at her. "It's just that they don't join because of the harshness of the game."

"Oh, well…" Kurita took a small sip of his tea. "I won't even get to see the "C" in the Christmas Bowl…"

"Christmas Bowl? That sounds familiar." Sena turned her attention back to Kurita, once more interested in what he was going to say.

"The All-Japan Championship game. Once a year, on Christmas day…the best teams from the east and the west face off! It's really amazing! And at Tokyo Stadium the replays are broadcast on the giant screen…"

_Now I know why the Christmas Bowl sounds familiar_. Sena broke out of her stupor when Kurita gave a loud exclaim.

"It's like the last major battlefield in a war! Someday I'll stand on that field with the rest of them! You see, I know we'll probably lose…but I really want us to compete in the next game! With all of us united towards a common goal, we literally collide against our opponents. The moment is ablaze with passion!"

Watching Kurita speak of the Christmas Bowl as if it were the most precious thing in the world, Sena could feel her heart going out to him. Her gaze trailed to the wall behind Kurita. "What's a team manager?"

"Huh? Oh, that…" Kurita thought a bit more about what a team manager does. "They do what's called scouting-they analyze opponents' plays, set up visiting games, and handle general management duties. They are ultimately responsible for the team's administration."

Sena day dreamed about all she could do with being team manager. She knew how to scout and what to look for because of a certain someone's showing off ways. **You can't be so passive**! Mamori's words echoed in Sena's mind, bringing her into a decision.

_I'll probably regret this later, but Kurita__-san_… Sena turned her gaze back to Kurita. "D-do you think that I could be a team manager?" Sena couldn't keep the slight stutter out of her voice, but the deed was done.

"WHAT!? O-OF COURSE!" Kurita looked like his dream came true. "Yeah!! Let's go for it! To the Christmas Bowl!" He became swinging Sena around, crying out in joy.

* * *

Soon, it became apparent that Sena needed to head off home. It was getting late and she promised her mother that she wouldn't stay out that long. Plus, she needed to take the train instead of her usual jogs to get back home or that's what her mother ordered, and she wasn't one to disobey her.

Looking down at her phone, Sena couldn't be happier that she received it. Now, she'll need to learn how to take responsibility more for she'll be a team manager. Looking through her phone book, Sena's face glowed as she had another contact, Kurita Ryoukan, another friend to talk to.

She gave a jolt when a hand was placed on her shoulder. "We've been waiting for you." Sena glanced up to see three of the males that were running away from Kurita earlier. They were also from her class if she recalled correctly.

"M-may I he-help you?" Sena felt more scared than she felt for a long time. It was like back in elementary school where people used her as a gopher or they bullied her.

"Normally we don't do anything to girls, but that fatty…do you know him, Sena?" The leader of the group of three had short light blond hair and a cross shape scar on his cheek. Juumonji was his name. "You tell us where we can find him and then we'll let you go."

Sena kept quiet as another one spoke up, the only dark haired one in the group, Kuroki. "But do you think one baseball bat is enough?" He gave a small swing. "He was so strong."

_They're not planning to_-

"One bat will be fine." Juumonji let out a smirk, looking smug. "I already called the police."

"The police?" The last of the group of three had a darker shade of blond hair and wore sunglasses. The last of the three's name was Togano. He looked up from his shounen jump manga that he was currently reading, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

_I need to get out of here. They're going to hurt Kurita-san!_ Sena's eyes were wide; however, she couldn't budge without alerting Juumonji, his hand was still on her shoulder.

"We just have to get him to fight us. Then we'll say Fatty attacked me with the bat and gave me this injury." Juumonji let go of her shoulder to finger the cross shape looking scar on his face. "That'll get him suspended from any future football games."

"Right on!"

**You see, I know we'll probably lose…But I really want us to compete in the next game!**

"Come on…out with it. Tell us and we'll let you go." Juumonji lit up a cigarette and stared down at Sena.

Sena clenched her hands into fists, hearing Kurita's words echo in her mind. Another thought popped up, one that _he_ told her. "Oni, it doesn't matter if you don't have the strength, if you have the speed, that's all you need." With that in mind, Sena raced off, barely hearing the boys running after her, shouting threats in the air.

_I wonder if __**they**__ found out I'm being bullied? Their Sena senses must be going crazy right now.  
_

Sena ended up running straight into Deimon's Spring Festival. "No way!!" Sena cried out, adrenaline coursing through her veins. _Should I hide in the crowd? No, take a detour? Nope, whatever I do, they'll be waiting for me at the station_.

"There she is!"

"WAIT!"

Sena though back to Kurita, her heart beating wildly. Crouching slightly, hands holding down her skirt, Sena looked ahead. It was like routes appeared in front of her, of the ones she ties to practice every day after having it for ten years, a reminiscent of her old bullying and gopher days. In a burst of speed, Sena rushed off and into the crowd, treading through with relative ease.

"All right, I got you-" Somehow, Togano had gotten in front of her. By instincts drilled into her from her friends, she did a fantastic spin move, completely avoiding him.

Sena dashed her way into the subway and seeing the door about to close, she dove right in making it on time, scaring some of the passengers all ready inside.

* * *

Sena brushed her hair, thinking about all that happened at school and afterwards. A feeling of dismay curled in the pit of her stomach at the thought of it. She'll need to deal with those boys tomorrow, and she didn't know what to do!

Beep…beep! The sound of her phone rang through the otherwise quietness of her room. At the noise of the phone, Pit who was sleeping, woke up hissing.

Sena went to pick it up and the name Kongo Unsui flashed on the screen. _If I ignore it, they'll come charging to my house tomorrow_. With a sigh, Sena answered.

"Hello?"

"Who were the fuckers that were bullying you? I'll kill those fucktards!" a violent snarl met Sena's ears, indicating that it wasn't Unsui who answered the phone, no doubt that both were there calling her though.

"Agon, give me the damn phone!" Sena distinctly heard fighting over the phone before a calmer voice came. "Are you all right Sena-chan? We meant to call earlier, but it is the start of the school year. Agon even showed up to practice today."

"So you guys do know." Sena knew it was no use denying the accusation. As she said, they had their _Sena sense_ and it worked for nearly five years all ready. She doubted it was going to change anytime soon.

"I'm fine. Like Ikkyu-niisan said, I may not have the strength, but I do have my speed."

"That's good. If anything happens call us immediately and we'll take care of them. Agon needs a way to relieve his stress that's been building up recently and they would make the perfect targets. How were things today at Deimon? Did you encounter Hiruma?" Unsui's calmness to any situation was a blessing to Sena. It was no wonder that Sena got along with him best. She heard another snarl over the phone. "I hope that you don't mind I turn this on speaker phone so Agon doesn't lose it completely."

"I'm fine, but I kept running into Hiruma today…" Sena went silent, debating if she should tell them that she signed up to be the American Football team manager for Deimon, the very club that Hiruma belonged to.

"You're not telling us something, spit it out you damn chibi!" Agon's voice rose Sena to debate at a higher level. If they found out, chaos will ensure. But if she didn't tell them and they found out on their own...

"Agon…"

"IjoinedtheAmericanFootballclubastheirmanager!" Sena said it so fast that she was hoping that none of them would catch what she was saying. It was too bad that she forgot that Agon was a genius.

"You joined that fucking trash's club as their damn manager!" Agon's voice roared over the phone, sounding furious. "That fucker blackmailed you, didn't he? I'll slaughter him and that damn fatty!"

"You got it all wrong. I joined because I wanted to." Sena tried to pacify the situation. "I haven't met Hiruma-san, but Kurita-san's really nice."

"Agon, calm down!" Unsui's voice came again, overpowering Agon's curses. "Sena-chan, if Hiruma does anything you better let us know. We can't stop you from joining, but if he does anything, anything at all, I want you to tell us."

"You're letting her/me do this?" Agon and Sena chorused, each shocked that Unsui would allow her to join. Agon was the violent older brother; Unsui was the overprotective older brother or father.

"I'll be telling Ikkyu about this. He's been complaining about not seeing you. Expect us to visit you soon Sena-chan." Sena could tell that Unsui put his phone back to its regular setting. "Goodnight Sena-chan."

"Goodnight Unsui-niisan. Sorry about the trouble."

"It's no trouble at all. It'll take a while for us to relax and not worry about the situation, however, we are in Kanagawa, and you're in Tokyo. Just stay on Hiruma's good side and you're set for Deimon and Tokyo."

"You really did think things through. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight."

Sena shut off her phone, letting out a relieved sigh. She didn't think that they would react well to the news, but it seemed Unsui pulled through at the end. "At least I have one's approval. How about the other two?"

Sena closed her lights and lay down next to Pitt on her bed. Before the Kongo Twins called, she was ready to go to sleep. She could feel her eyelids getting heavy as she settled herself down in a comfortable position.

"Goodnight Pitt." The only response was a light purr, but that was enough for Sena.

_Tomorrow will be my own personal day of hell_. Was Sena's last thought before she drifted into dreamland. Dreaming about what was in store for her tomorrow as it happens that she'll have her first meeting with the devil on earth himself, Hiruma Yoichi.

* * *

This must be the longest chapter that I've ever written for this account. I hope that you enjoyed this. I'll be updating slowly on this since I'm still not used to chaptered stories. I'll try my best to last through this story as it's becoming a personal favorite of mine.

I thought it'd be easier for me to reveal Sena's niisans earlier than their appearance.

- Knows Ikkyu since parents and her mother were good friends in high school.

- Met Unsui through Ikkyu and Unsui and Agon's mother became friends with Sena's mother.

- Met Agon after having a bunch of bullies after her who Unsui and Agon dealt with quickly.

As for pairings for my female Sena, I was thinking Riku, Shin, or Kakei paired with her. I could do somewhat of an everybody paired with Sena, but it won't be all. Most will be fluffy shortly, compared to the three unless voting pairings say otherwise. However, I will not do any HirumaxSena pairings, I'm going to make it more of a sibling relationship like what Sena has with Ikkyu, Unsui, and Agon, so those four pairings won't be happening as anything other than sibling relationship.


	2. This Is How It Starts

_**Goal**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21.

* * *

Walking to get her shoes so she could go home, Sena couldn't help but feel as if her heart was going to burst with how much it was pounding in her chest. She just knew something was going to happen, and the anxiety was killing her. All day, Juumonji, Kuroki, and Togano kept away from her as if she were the plagued, and she knew it wasn't the Kongo twins who made them act that way (as she became use to how bullies use to bully her one day and be afraid of going near her the next day), and that made her all the more nervous, having a feeling on _**who**_ got them to act that way.

"Kekeke!" Was the last thing Sena heard before she fell into oblivion.

She woke up with a jerk, only to find out that she was tied down and had a cloth tied around her mouth, rendering her useless. Struggling to get out, she glanced at around the area, only to find it familiar.

"Hey! So we got a new recruit yesterday!" Kurita told Hiruma, looking happy, as if nothing could ruin his good mood.

"Oh? Actually, I found someone too." Hiruma smirked. "A running back with golden legs. And she's real eager to join the team."

"Wow! What a find! That's great Hiruma." They stopped in front of their club shack. "Really, the new recruit's a girl too. Hopefully they'll get along fine!"

"She's probably already here."

The door was kicked opened, and Sena was forced to dodge as an onslaught of bullets shot at her. "Here's your application form…"

"Sena!" She looked up only to see Kurita looking at her with shock, before he quickly went to untie her.

"Get dress." Hiruma tossed her the entire uniform with the number 21 jersey and a helmet with an Eyeshield on it. As Sena was about to refuse, a gun aiming straight at her changed her mind.

The two boys left her to change, which didn't take her long to do. She's seen Ikkyu and Agon change in front of her plenty of times before, with Unsui explaining how to put it on. Even though it was embarrassing for her, they really didn't care.

_**Better for you to get used to for when you get older**_. Never did she remember blushing so much before, and it only served to make them laugh.

"Number 21. And the Eyeshield looks good!" Kurita exclaimed once Sena came out in the uniform. She glanced down at herself, feeling weird wearing something that she's seen others wear whenever they were to play football.

"We'll keep your identity a secret during games. Otherwise all the teams in our school will be after you, eh." Hiruma gave her a look-over, knowing how crazy and troublesome it would be if everyone in their school would know who Sena actually was. "You can't mask your voice without giving it a strain, so it's best that you don't talk in front of others, but you better start training your voice anyway. Otherwise, you really can't tell you're a girl."

Sena bowed her head at Hiruma's observation. _It's really not my fault I'm a late bloomer_. She huffed, but remembered what Hiruma said previously. "But I'm just the team manager…" Sena shut her mouth when she saw Hiruma reloading his gun.

"During games you aren't gonna use your own name, Kobayakawa Sena, got it?" Hiruma pounded his gun on the desk once, emphasizing his point. "Your codename will be…Eyeshield 21!!"

"But I'm just the team manager!" Sena cried out, not wanting to play. The games she watched cheering on the Kongo twins and Ikkyu flashed in her mind, and the game Kurita showed her yesterday. Being tackled didn't seem fun, at all.

"Okay, athlete and manager. You'll do both!" Hiruma didn't give her a choice in the matter, and Sena surrendered to Hiruma, finding it in her best interest if she did. She couldn't believe that Unsui was right. Hiruma was going to force her to play after seeing how fast she could run.

* * *

_The next day_

"The football team!?" Mamori looked at Sena in shock.

"Well…Kurita-san's a really great guy!" Sena smiled in remembrance of the kind hearted giant that she's been getting to know. "But then Hiruma-san is the worst." Her attitude did a one-eighty turn around at the thought of Hiruma.

"I thought I told you to stay away from him!"

"And football is…it's too dangerous! Don't do it!" Mamori clenched her fist hard on her book bag before bringing one up to her chest. "Sena – you're slight, you're delicate, you're frail, – and you're just weak!"

_That's harsh_, Sena sweat dropped at Mamori's speech. It was nice that she cared, but that was insulting.

"But I'm on the disciplinary committee so…you be sure to tell me if they make you do anything dangerous!"

_Wow, she's letting me do this_. Sena gave a slight laugh, feeling a little guilty about the lie that she was about to make. "Hey, everything's cool. I'm not a player. I won't actually play football. I'm the team manager."

"Oh, that's a relief." Mamori let out a breath she didn't realize that she was holding. Sena watched her feeling insulted and happy at Mamori's opinion. Though Mamori thought she was weak, at least she cared.

"Wait…then why are you going to school so early?"

"Administrative staff meeting," Sena answered quickly._ I better resign to my fate right now because the devil has me in his clutches and I don't think he'll let me go!_ Sena cried in her mind, knowing exactly what was in store for her at school.

* * *

"Morning practice!!" Hiruma announced, dragging Sena towards where Kurita was all dressed in uniform. A minute before Hiruma tied Sena up with a rope and proceeded to drag her that way, ensuring that she wouldn't escape.

"Good morning," greeted Kurita, pausing his training and taking off his helmet. The equipment that Kurita was practicing on moments before, laid busted a few feet away.

"Wow, you're here early."

"Well, this is the first time we've ever had three players, right? I was so excited that I woke up early." Kurita laughed and stretched. "I was so wound up that I've been here since two AM."

"…"

"He's a bit dim…" Hiruma trailed off, catching a look at the equipment Kurita broke with sheer power. "Idiot! You busted it!!"

_He's so strong it's scary_. Sena looked at the heavy equipment, imagining Kurita tackling other football players with his force.

"Damn. Well, we'll have to trick the principal into buying us another one again." Hiruma kicked it, watching as the upper part disconnected with the lower part.

_But __**this**__ guy's even scarier_. Sena turned away, a frightened look upon her face.

She walked over towards the equipment, ignoring Hiruma and Kurita who were off talking on the side. _Wow…so much equipment…_

"A ladder? Wonder what it's used for?" Sena spoke aloud, picking up the ladder in curiosity with her right hand, squatting on the ground.

"Oh, that?" Kurita came up to Sena looking like Hiruma never did anything to him. "That's for ladder drills."

"It's used to practice your footwork like this." Kurita did a demonstration of it. "It's an exercise to learn football fundamentals."

"Step in the spaces, like this?" Sena tried her hand at the ladder drill, actually able to do it with ease. It reminded her of the side-step exercises that she did in junior high.

"Yeah…"

"Let's go from the ladder to some more basics." Hiruma looked over the equipment that was still around. "We've got to teach the rookie." He dragged Sena off, but was stopped by Kurita.

"Wait, my neck is killing me. I'm just gonna do the 40-yard dash and then I think I'm done."

Hiruma whipped out a stopwatch from out of nowhere. "It's been a while since we did a 40. I'll time you." Instead, Hiruma tossed the stopwatch to Sena. "Show me the fruits of your morning practice." Hiruma cackled.

"One practice isn't going to make me faster," Kurita complained, fixing up the field in preparation for doing the 40-yard dash.

_Hope I can do this right_. Sena looked down at the stopwatch. "How many seconds does it usually take to run 40 yards?" She shot a quick glance up at Hiruma and paid attention to Kurita, who was currently finishing up the field.

"The average guy takes between five and six seconds. The five-second wall is the line between a sprinter and an ordinary person." Hiruma explained. Remembering Shin, he continued, "A high school kid who can do about 4.8 seconds would be an ace anywhere. The high school record is 4.4 seconds set by a guy named Shin, but he's a freak."

"Okay…" Kurita announced that he was ready.

"Whoa…" Sena ran to the other side of the field after seeing Hiruma take out a bazooka.

"All right!" Hiruma let out a grin. "Ready, set…"

_**BOOM **_

Kurita ran as fast as he could. Beep, went the sound of the stopwatch as Sena pressed the button. She quickly ran to give Hiruma the score.

"Time?" asked Hiruma as he grabbed Sena's hand, facing the stopwatch to face him. Kurita Ryoukan, 6.5 seconds.

Hiruma's face twisted up into an ugly look, growling. "You damn fatty! That's slower than before, isn't it? What were you doing all morning!?" Hiruma began kicking Kurita in a rage.

"I can't help it! I'm tired…" Kurita cried out, hoping that Hiruma would stop kicking him sometime soon.

Sena stood by and watched the scene unfold in front of her, shivering at the fact that she'll need to deal with these upperclassmen until they graduate! So absorbed in her thoughts, Sena didn't notice that Hiruma was ready to begin his 40-yard dash.

"Hey, watch this!" Hiruma crouched into a sprinter's position.

_Huh!? He's fast!_ Sena, however, dutifully began the stopwatch once Hiruma took off running. Beep, went the sound of the stopwatch as Sena pressed the button once again, this time for Hiruma. Hiruma Yoichi, 5.1 seconds.

"Ya-Ha! My best time ever!!" Hiruma did a weird pose, completely unlike his usual character. Kurita and Sena, meanwhile, were gawking at Hiruma's score.

"Now, last but not least…" Hiruma turned his attention to Sena.

"No, thanks. I don't need to."

Sena's protest went unheeded as Hiruma countered. "What? Can't wait to do it?" She resigned to listening to Hiruma, knowing it wouldn't be wise to disobey him and ruin his apparent good mood.

"With those legs, I bet she breaks the five-second wall."

"Really…Sena? You think?" Kurita thought more about Sena's speed and Hiruma's personal praises of it. "Yeah, but isn't it odd? If she's such a speed star, don't you think she'd have made a name for herself in junior high?"

"Hmm. Maybe…time her and we'll see…" Hiruma rubbed his neck as Kurita got ready to time Sena. Hiruma whipped out his bazooka once more. "Ready, set…"

_**BOOM**_

Sena dashed off once the sound of the boom filled her ears. Running as she usually did, it was hard to come to a direct stop, something she hadn't practiced at all during her jogs to and from school whenever she wasn't with Mamori.

Sena went to check out her time. "Right at the five-second wall!" Kurita exclaimed, looking down at the stopwatch.

"No way!" Kobayakawa Sena, 5.0 seconds.

Hiruma whipped out his trusty laptop, hacking into the school's system looking for Sena's information. "Kobayakawa Sena's junior high school fitness tests…you were the best in school only at the side-step exercise!"

_Where'd he get that info_? Sena looked at Hiruma freaked out.

"You must have developed phenomenal burst speed being a gopher for bullies in your elementary school…that's how you got that rocket start and you try to train every day with that particular talent. But your speed eases up so you're not going to break any running records." Hiruma opened up a bag full of dog bones that he always keeps around, and placed one dog bone in the back of Sena's jersey.

Whistling, Hiruma called out, "CERBERUS!!" He cackled, knowing what was about to come while Kurita supported a scared expression.

A small hound came out of nowhere, growling. He set his sight on Sena, smelling the dog bone in the back of Sena's jersey, and charged. Sena screamed out in terror as she ran the 40-yard dash, trying to get away from the devil hound who gave chase.

Hiruma timed her run, not caring if Cerberus used Sena as his new chew toy. "YA-HA! Look at that skill." Hiruma showed Kurita Sena's score. "It's a new high school record! That's top speed even for the NFL! No one can stop you, girl!"

**Golden Legs**

Kobayakawa Sena. 4.2 seconds when being chased by Cerberus.

Sena managed to get the bone out of her jersey and flung it at Cerberus, saving herself from permanent damage from the small demonic dog.

Kurita rushed to Sena, shaking her wildly. "S-Sena, you can't keep this ability hidden!!"

"The spring game is ours!" Hiruma cackled; his day certainly getting brighter.

"Oh, that's right. The game's coming up." Kurita stopped shaking Sena, allowing her to rid herself of the dizziness caused by him.

"We'd better start gathering up 'support' players," Hiruma commented, knowing they only had three official members to play.

_The game…_ Sena thought about the game, imagining her walking down the field with the team.

"So when exactly is our next game?"

"Tomorrow…" Hiruma picked up his things and all ready started his way back to the club shack.

"NO WAY!!" Sena and Kurita yelled out, both incredulous at the prospect of needing to gather more than eight 'support' players.

"We need eight more players by tomorrow's game!!" Hiruma stood in front of the other two, one hand placed on his hip, the other on another one of his guns. "We'll split up and round some people up!!"

"Eight?" questioned Kurita, taking a sip of tea, staring at Hiruma.

"But I thought you need eleven players for football…"

"Nine." Hiruma pointed to himself. "Ten." Hiruma pointed to Kurita. "Eleven." Hiruma pointed to Sena.

Sena spat out her drink when Hiruma pointed to her. "But I'll be killed out there!" She stood up, crying out, trying to make Hiruma see her point of view. "Plus, I'm just the team manager." She shuddered at the thought of being tackled.

"With those legs of yours, Sena-chan. I want you to play in our games too." Kurita wiped the side of his face from the sweat that fell, still exhausted from the training that just ended. "But not if you don't want to. Maybe while you are managing the team, you'll want to start playing…and then I'll be glad to have you on the team."

"So we got to get together nine players."

Hiruma slammed his hand unto a board, which was divided evenly into three parts. "Three each! Do whatever you have to! Just drag 'em in from the other sports teams!!"

"Th-three players by today!?"

"Of course." Hiruma pointed towards them, giving them a smirk. "Whoever brings in the least gets the penalty game."

_Penalty game_?! Sena could already imagine what Hiruma could do to her if she failed bringing in any players, much less being the one to bring in the least.

* * *

Classes just ended, and the students were heading home. Not much sports students lay about, instead going home with the rest as today seemed to be a day off for them, or they (or at least the second years) somehow knew that Hiruma would be recruiting people for tomorrow's game.

"By the end of today, he said…" Sena laid her head onto her desk, looking downcast and weary. "But I just started this school – I don't know anyone…" she moaned.

_Set up away games…_ flashed in Sena's mind. **Team Manager**, she let out a gasp. "W-wait a minute!" Sena stood up from her seat, abruptly. "This is my chance to show my management ability, isn't it?!"

Sena walked towards the sports' rooms, coming face to face with the basketball team's room first. "All right, I'll start here!" She took a gulp of air, imagining what she could say to them.

"**How would you like to play in a football game? Leave the equipment to me! All I need is your fighting spirit!!"**

_Sadly, I know that that's a fantasy_.

Sena opened the door, making it rattle. "Uh…excuse me…" She looked at them shyly, sweating bullets. "The, uh…football game. I wonder if you'd be interested in playing or something."

"You're cute and all, but no thanks. I'll pass," the one on the right said, giving her a smile. His black hair to his shoulders, Sena thought she'd seen him somewhere before. Perhaps in one of her classes, he seemed to be a first year as well.

The other one didn't even look up from his basketball book. "Don't have the slightest desire." He, too, seemed familiar to Sena.

"Oh…okay, I see." Sena backed out of the room, feeling defected. _Aw…this sucks…why does it always happen to me…?_

Kurita tried his hand at the basketball players. "How 'bout playing in the football game!?"

"No way!"

Sena watched Kurita exit with a gloomy atmosphere surrounding him. "Wait! It's not over yet! There are still others athletic teams left!" Sena ran off, eager to try more of management skills. "I'll ask all of them!"

"You're playing in the football game, or else!" Hiruma kicked opened the door, waltzing in as if he knew they would immediately obey his commands.

"Again?" the one on the right groaned, leaning back.

"Enough is enough! We already told the other guy we're not playing!" The one of the left stood up in a rage, slamming his book down with a bam.

"Well, well…such a defiant attitude…" Hiruma got out his book of threats, looking for the two's profiles. "Let's see, you're both first years, right?"

"Hm…you're Satake, homeroom two." Hiruma motioned the right one as being Satake. On the other hand, "And you're Yamaoka in homeroom five, right?"

"Satake! You're the one who stole the underwear from the girls' swim team! And what's this, Yamaoka? You have a poster of Kago Ai that you kiss every morning! Wow, that's pathetic!"

"How…?"

"How do you?" Satake and Yamaoka's face mirrored each others in shock of Hiruma's accurate information.

"Wait 'til everyone hears this!!" Hiruma ran out, shouting his last sentence through a megaphone, crackling.

"I-I'll play! I'll play!"

"Let me play in the football game too!" Both chased Hiruma, hoping to stop him from telling everyone their secrets.

"I already went to basketball, soccer, baseball, swim, table tennis, tennis, kendo, volleyball, and karate." Sena crossed out those and only one was left, track and field.

"This is my last chance." Sena opened the door. _Let's see how track and field would be if I joined_.

Only one guy was left, looking like he just finished putting on his undershirt for the school uniform. Sena blushed at the fact, and she adverted the direction of her gaze to stare more to the right than at him.

The guy stared at Sena for a moment before asking, "Is there anything you want?" Introductions were made between the two and Sena explained about the football game and needing 'support' players.

"The football game? Sure, I'll play!" Ishimaru finished putting on his tie and was all set to go.

"R-really!?" Inside, Sena couldn't believe how relieved she felt that she managed to find at least one person.

"If I play with you guys, I can see their athletic ability. Maybe I can convince the promising ones to join the track team." Ishimaru picked up his bag, ready to leave. "Would that be alright? A sort of 'give and take'?"

Sena was nearly glowing at the fact that he was willing to help her. "Great! So can I count on you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow!? There's no way I can do it!"

"HUH?!" Sena's hope went crashing down with that one sentence.

"You see, I've got a job delivering the local town magazine." He scratched his head, clearly apologetic for raising Sena's hopes that he could play. "And I got to get them out by tomorrow, so I can't make the game. Sorry!"

They both parted ways and Sena was dreading going back to the club shack.

_What can you expect? To get a team together by tomorrow is such short notice. I've got zero recruits and I'll have to face Hiruma-san's wrath._

Sena nearly cried at the thought. Imagining Hiruma shooting at her with his guns was easily imaginable, and believable. It wasn't until recently that she realized she missed having her niisans around to protect her. Sena was spoiled, but now she'll need to learn how to work more independently, but still being dependent.

_Maybe I should try to plan a day where we can go out and have fun_. Sena wanted nothing more than to do that, especially if it got her away from Hiruma's starting of hell.

She opened the door, hearing it screech from the slow opening of the door. Sena gazed at the board to see how much anyone gathered, and was surprised at the number of Hiruma's. Amazing! _How'd he get so many by himself?_ She counted the number of pins on the board, counting seven in total. Seeing Kurita's and her side of the board, she couldn't help the sweat drop that appeared; they had nothing in their space.

Glancing around the room, Sena freaked out at coming across Kurita sitting in a corner, sagging. "ACK!?"

"Aww…so you didn't get anyone either…" Kurita began crying as seemed that they wouldn't be able to play in tomorrow's game. "And Hiruma hasn't been able to get anyone beyond his seventh guy…all the jocks have left school by now…it's no use…we won't make it in time for the game…"

"…" Sena couldn't stand to see Kurita looking so down, knowing how much he wanted to play in the next game. Turning on her heel, she darted out of the shack, calling over her shoulder, "I-I'm gonna make one last round."

Sena hurried around the edges of the campus, hoping more than anything she'd be able to find someone that was willing to join. Hearing a bicycle, Sena halted, turning towards the sound. The culprit of the noise was Ishimaru. She zoomed off towards the direction, running as fast as she could to see if she could help so Ishimaru could play in the football game.

Some twigs stuck in her hair and leaves sticking to her uniform, she finally made it before Ishimaru. "H-hey!" yelled Sena, slightly out of breath. "Let me help you out in delivering."

Her sudden appearance shocked Ishimaru, but after a minute of consideration, he agreed to having Sena helping him in exchange that he play in tomorrow's game.

Ishimaru ripped a part of a map and handed it to Sena along with giving her a bunch of magazines. "Okay, Sena-san, you take this half." Getting back onto his bike he waved. "Thanks! Let's meet back here when we're finished."

Sena waved goodbye and got a good look at the map and where she needed to deliver. Getting out a pen that she always carries around, she marked a route that would be the quickest and easiest way to deliver the magazines and meeting back in the meeting place between the two. "…this should do it." Sena pocketed the pencil and map in her blazer, knowing where she needed to start off. "All right…" Sena ran off, going at a speed where her skirt wouldn't fly up, but fast enough to get the job done.

_I bet that Mamori-neechan…she'd make fun of me, calling me a gopher again, Agon-niisan too. But to do this, united towards a common goal…there's nothing wrong with that! I'm doing this because I want to, not because I have to!__ Like Unsui-niisan and Ikkyu-niisan said, it's good to work for something I believe in it makes you stronger both mentally and physically in the end._

Putting magazines in an apartment's mailboxes, Ishimaru realized. "What? I'm out of magazines? Maybe I gave her too much – after all, I've got the bike." Ishimaru pedaled away, heading for the appointed meeting place. "I'll go get another half from her. Wonder if I'll be able to find her there or around that area."

"ACK!!" Ishimaru came to an abrupt halt, seeing Sena in front of him sitting Indian style with her blazer lying across her lap, covering the area her skirt wasn't.

"That was…a-amazingly fast! You didn't throw 'em away, did you?" Ishimaru knew that from Sena's personality (though he only met her not that long ago), she wasn't the type to do that, but he couldn't help but be skeptical. He gave her at least half of the magazines to deliver, and he was the one with the bike!

"N-no, I delivered each and every one!"

"Just kidding! You were a big help. I'll even split the pay with you!"

"No, I don't need the money." Sena stood up and stretched. "Instead, how about playing in the game tomorrow?" She slipped her blazer back on, looking up at Ishimaru hopefully.

"Sure." He chuckled, before pedaling away. "See ya later, Sena-san!"

"Thank Ishimaru-san!" She waved goodbye before heading back to the club shack, feeling happier than she felt for a while.

Sena placed a pin on her side of the board, looking proud.

Kurita, watching her place it, broke into a smile. He rushed up to Sena and started swinging her around. "Great! That's great, Sena!" he shouted out in joy, a few tears of happiness escaping his eyes.

The two began counting how much pins there were on the board. Hiruma collected seven and Sena got one. "Then add Hiruma and me…" Kurita leaned forward.

"That's ten…"

At the revelation of there being only ten players, Kurita bowed his head. "I guess…we're one player short…that's too bad…"

"Hey!" Sena burst out, thinking of Deimon's football team running out into the field. _The last player…maybe I could…_ Before Sena could voice her thought, Hiruma came into the scene, rather angry.

"Those damn convenience store!! They're out of sugarless gum!!" Hiruma flung Sena and Kurita two cans of soda, one for each. "Even a fly wouldn't chew sugary gum!!"

As Sena and Kurita were distracted by both the soda and his words, he walked over to the board. "Oops, didn't finish putting these up." He picked up more pins and pinned it up on his side of the board. Making the total amount of players Hiruma blackmailed into joining as eighteen.

Sena and Kurita jumped up in joy, shouting in unison, "We did it!!"

Hiruma let out a growl. "No way did 'we' do it!! I did it all by myself! You're both worthless!!" Hiruma began kicking the both of them, the two trying to get away. "And give me back those sodas, damn it! I won't give you a single drop! Die of thirst for all I care!"

As Sena and Kurita were celebrating, Hiruma spotted Sena's cell phone lying on a table nearby. Thinking of gaining more blackmail material, he looked through her phone book to see who she had, _Anezaki Mamori, Hosokawa Ikkyu, Kongo Agon, Kongo Unsui, and Kurita Ryoukan_. He nearly slammed her phone down on the table, but thought better of it.

"How the fuck does she know them?" Hiruma stared at Sena, wondering exactly how she knew the people who gave him the most trouble. "How the fuck does the damn pipsqueak know those fuckers from Shinryuuji?" Thankfully, the two were still shouting in glee at the prospect of being able to play in the game tomorrow to hear Hiruma's near inaudible sayings.

* * *

I know there isn't much of anything outside of canon in this chapter. The next chapter will be more of a twister since I already am thinking of how to make it different. This chaptered she met Hiruma and next chapter she'll meet Shin and Sakuraba. Let's see if the Shinryuuji Naga's main boys influence our female Sena, the only female football player of the east (Kantou region).

It'll be a while before I update. As you can see, I'm still on the first volume. I can make one more chapter of that until I'm on the second volume, which I don't have. Hopefully when I go Borders today, they'll have it. I still have to write out the third chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one, I promise to make the next one more exciting.

I've been thinking of the pairing and more of what others (as those said in reviews) thought. I know that HirumaxSena and AgonxSena is a widely interesting and liked pairing, but I can see Hiruma better off with Mamori or with being no one, and Agon would attack Sena for rejecting him (like he almost did with Mamori in canon) or in this story, Agon isn't interested in her because she doesn't have a rack and Unsui and Ikkyu would annoy him and do whatever it takes to make sure he's never alone with her, that being said and done, Agon has no interest in Sena besides violent overprotective brother syndrome. I'm more for trying to get Sena with people more of her type and who can be seen with her and having chemistry. Other suggestions are good to; I'll make way, somehow.

ShinxSena

KakeixSena

RikuxSena

SakurabaxSena

YamatoxSena

AkabaxSena


	3. Shining Determination

_**Goal**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21 or any of its characters.

Author's Note: I'll like to think all those who reviewed. I know the last chapter was a bit boring since it seemed to just be reading along with the manga. I would like to say that some parts of all your reviews gave me some new ideas for the plot, so I'd like to thank you all. Sorry my update took a while and I hope you enjoy the next installment of _**Goal**_.

* * *

"Hey," Ishimaru greeted, coming to the meeting place of the Deimon Devil Bats.

Sena waved him over from where she stood with the rest of the team, dressed in a tight short sleeve shirt and short jeans. "Hi, thanks for coming!"

"So, you're all here, huh?" Hiruma walked up from the other side from where Sena and the rest were, hands in his pockets, grinning his trademark demonic grin.

_Thank goodness he's here. I don't know how much longer I could take those stares these guys were giving me_. Sena took a peek at the guys around her, some winking at her, causing her to blush and focus her attention once more on Hiruma. _This reminds me of that one time Agon-niisan took me to one of the Shinryuuji practices and those guys were eyeing me like a piece of meat. Unsui-niisan and Ikkyu-niisan had a field day, and it looked like that was the first time Shinryuuji's ever seen the two act like that.  
_

"Yeah, you're the last one…" Satake looked at him irritated.

When he was close enough, four guys went up to Hiruma looking eager. "So where are the totally hot cheerleaders?"

"Oh, they'll be here later."

_He lied_. Sena turned the other way, a foreboding look sweeping across her features. "Kurita-san's late…" She tried to look for the kind but strong giant over the crowd, but couldn't see him anywhere.

"Penalty game," Hiruma said simply, thinking about why it was taking Kurita so long.

"Oh! That's right…" Sena whipped around to stare at Hiruma. "What was his penalty?"

"I couldn't do anything too bad to him before a game." Hiruma looked bored and a little downcast that he couldn't do anything of his usual punishments. "He just has to carry the baggage."

_What a relief…_Sena let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"I came here completely empty-handed. Is that okay?" Ishimaru came up to Hiruma, informing him of his little problem.

"I've taken care of everything." He grinned at the thought. He turned his head to the side after catching sight of Kurita. "There you are, damn fatty…Hey, we're leaving now!"

"This is a bit heavy." Kurita pulled several humongous baggages, full of everything Hiruma deemed necessary. The others looked at Kurita in awe and fear at the fact that he pulled everything by himself using only rope, and the fact the thing he was pulling the baggage's on had wheels.

Hiruma let out another cackle as Sena thought to herself, _I'm so glad…;_ she made a face of horror thinking of dragging it along with Kurita, _that_ _I was able to recruit a player…really…_

* * *

"_Game today! My debut as team manager!"_ **Game today! My debut as team manager! Tenkai Field at 1 PM!**

"A game already!?" Mamori stared at her cell phone screen. "That's right…the football season starts in April…"

* * *

Hiruma forced them onto a train to a station nearer to Tenkai field so they wouldn't need to walk there with their entire luggage.

_Wow, do you think we've bought enough stuff?_ "I can't see in front of me…" Kurita and Sena loaded the baggage onto the train.

Sena looked out the car door window. _I wonder why this is the only car that doesn't have any other passengers than us?_ Unknown to her, on the wall right outside the car was a sign, clearly the work of Hiruma. The sign read, "Cleaning in progress, find another car, damn it!"

"Is the team we're playing today any good?" Sena twisted around to stare at Kurita and Hiruma.

"No, actually they're pretty bad," Kurita told Sena. "We might even win! The Devil Bats' first victory!" Kurita looked more pumped up at the prospect of winning their first game.

"Not might win, we will win!" Hiruma folded his arms behind his head and leaned back against the seat backing.

"Do you have the tournament brackets for the Tokyo games?" Sena reached for the particular handbag that Kurita told her carried the information regarding the spring tournament.

"Uh, yes."

Opening the handbag, she took out a huge piece of paper, the schedule of the spring tournament. "Wow! There are quite a few more teams this year!"

"How many do we have to win make it to the Kanto games?" Sena pointed to the paper, trying to count how much teams from where she could see. "It's a long way off, isn't it?" She paused for a moment, smelling something burning, only to see Hiruma using a lighter to burn the paper. She flung it towards Hiruma who caught it with ease.

"Don't bother thinking about the unnecessary. We're gonna win the game today! That's all we have to think about." Hiruma shut of the lighter and stopped the fire on the paper.

"All that's left on the chart is today's game…"

"Good! In the first round, today we're up against…**The Koigahama Cupids**!"

* * *

"Wow…" Sena couldn't help but be in awe at how much people were there. It wasn't often that she saw a football game, but when she did, she never ceased to be amazed at the amount of people who attended.

"Looks like the earlier game is just ending."

_All right! My debut game as team manager! I'll analyze the other teams…_ Sena took out a video camera that she brought along for the occasion. _But I don't understand the whole concept yet, so I'll just videotape the game and study it afterwards._

"L-looks like it's over."

"Uh…now I feel nervous." Sena unintentionally began handing out cleats for artificial turfs, when she was supposed to be handing out regular cleats for grass fields.

"It's okay to feel this way before a game." Ishimaru grabbed a pair of cleats, looking at the other team. "It's…it's almost like your blood gets cold."

"Scary…looks like someone could get hurt."

"Let's get this over with so we can go home…"

"Ah, the other team's already here." Kurita slipped on his gloves, motioning to the other side of the field where the other Koigahama Cupids were.

All on the other side of the field, there were many girls doting on the football players.

"This is the Koigahama Cupids' third season. Their players always bring their girlfriends to their games." Hiruma read the information from the laptop, and enjoyed the scene the team started.

The information seemed to piss off majority of the 'support' players. "Bring 'em down!!"

"Let's do it! Right, Kurita!?" One of the players went up to Kurita, looking pumped and ready to do some damage.

"Oh? Yeah…!" Kurita sweat dropped, raising his right arm into the air in a rather lack of enthusiastic jabbing gesture.

_Look at them now! The team spirit is united!_

"Hey, but aren't we gonna have our own cheerleaders too?" One of the boys pointed out, remembering Hiruma's lies.

"Right, cheerleaders!"

"Manager-san, why don't you call some of your female friends and you guys be our cheerleaders?"

A freaked out look immediately crossed over Sena's face. Internally, she panicked, wondering what was in store for her if she said the wrong thing. "T-they-they'll b-be co-com-coming soon." Sena sent a pleading look to Hiruma, who slowly began to smirk, leading Sena to believe he had something planned.

"Well, tell them to hurry up!" the majority of the team shouted at her, making her feel even more pressured.

Sena ran over to Hiruma, not knowing what to do. She didn't have any other female friend besides Mamori. How was she supposed to get cheerleaders for the team?

Before Hiruma could even speak, someone else spoke, "Sorry about all the high-pitched squealing and cheering on our side…" The Koigahama Cupid's team captain Hatsujo flicked hair away from his face, trying to act cool. "These girls, they just insist on coming out to support us!"

He paused, looking around Deimon's area. "Hey!" A shocked expression came across his face. "There isn't a single girl around on your side!"

Hiruma dragged Sena off before she could make an appearance, and brought her to where all the Koigahama girls were.

"Excuse me, ladies." Hiruma coughed to gain their attention, his acting skills coming into full play. They all turned to face them and Sena felt uncomfortable with their stares. Hiruma shoved a box full of cheerleading uniforms and pictures of Sakuraba Haruto from Jari Productions into Sena's arms.

"My sister and I wanted more cheers for our team. In return, you can have all these merchandise of Sakuraba Haruto."

Sena quickly passed everything out, sweat dropping as girls rushed towards her. _Hiruma-san really knows how to get his way_. A scream of outrage broke Sena out of her thoughts, shaking her head at the rather shown one-track mind the Koigahama Cupids seem to have.

"YA-HA! Happy now, you damn lunks?" Hiruma let loose another cackle as the team cheered.

"GO DEVIL BATS!" the cheerleaders also cheered along with the team.

_Uh-oh, now they're real fired up_…Sena stared at the opposing team let loose a raging aura of anger in unison.

As if Hiruma read her thoughts, he brought out his infamous laptop and cooled off the Koigahama Cupids with the field's sprinkler system that he hacked into. "Fire's under control."

There was one photo left and Sena took a good look at it. She couldn't deny that Sakuraba was handsome, but as she looked closer, she saw Hiruma in the background. "Where's this photo from?"

"Oh, that…" Kurita came up from behind, looking at the picture. "Sakuraba Haruto from Jari Productions plays football for his high school. Last year at a practice match, Hiruma forced him to take the picture. The Ojo White Knights are an excellent team. Really powerful…But we somehow managed to hold them down to 99-0!" Kurita looked proud of the score.

Sena remembered that for every touchdown you earn six points, a point for a kick or a two point conversion touchdown. "Did they score on you nearly fourteen times?" Sena made the calculations in her mind.

"About there." Kurita smiled. "But I believe that's good considering that football has four quarters, and Hiruma and I are the only real football players. Everyone else on our team is usually just 'support' players."

"There are also field goals." Hiruma walked over.

"Than isn't it better to run since it's six points?" Sena grabbed a hold of the football that Kurita threw her.

"When you can run, that is."

"But the other team will try to tackle you to stop you like this…" Kurita launched himself at Sena, and she miraculously dodged and ran several yards away from them.

"Hehehehe…" Hiruma grabbed onto the back of Sena's shirt and lifted her up slightly. "Let's use this one in today's game."

"Y-you can't force her just like that…" Kurita immediately came to Sena's defense, which calmed her down almost instantly.

Hiruma lowered Sena back onto the ground. "We won't use her as long as we're winning. We don't want to reveal our secret weapon unless we have to. But if we're down by even just one point, I'm putting her in!"

Sena took one look at the Koigahama Cupids and saw them glaring at the team. In her mind, she couldn't help but imagine them coming after her with killing vigor. "I really, really don't think I should play today," she whimpered, the thought of entering the field scared her.

"All right, huddle up!" Hiruma shouted, beckoning the team closer.

_I don't think he even heard me. It's no use talking to this guy…_ Sena walked closer to them, getting over her short brooding. _But I won't have to go in as long as we're winning. Go Devil Bats!_

"Got it, guys? If we lose, it'll be our last game. So don't think about playing a good game." Hiruma looked completely serious, and it was reflected back to him by the entire team. "Just make sure we beat them! That's all!"

"We're…gonna…KILL THEM!! YEAH!"

_That's some rallying cry…_

Hiruma sent Sena up into the stands to record the game through there, giving them a different angle. _It'll be easier to study the game that way, anyway. Though,_ _if they are loosing by a point each, I have to hurry and head over there_. Sena bowed her head.

"Next up is the Deimon Devil Bats vs. The Koigahama Cupids! The game is about to begin."

* * *

"Aren't you Ojo's linebacker and receiver, Shin Seijuro and Sakruaba Haruto?" Ikkyu came walking up to them, seeing the two about to enter the front gate.

"Hosokawa Ikkyu?" Sakuraba immediately recognized the famous backpedaling genius from the Shinryuuji Nagas. He was one of the best receivers in the Kanto area. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you guys that." Ikkyu couldn't help but be snarky. He was late in arriving as he was sure that the game between Koigahama and Deimon already started, and he was one of the few excused for the day because of the over exhaustion and near injury during the first practice. Agon and Unsui managed to convince coach Sadoda to let him go scouting instead, giving him the perfect opportunity to see Sena.

"We're scouting." Shin eyed him, wondering why he was there exactly. Ojo came out to record Deimon's matches because Takami was worried about Hiruma having some new tricks up his sleeves. After all, if Deimon won today, they will be facing Ojo next, or it could be the Koigahama Cupids. They wanted to know as much as they could about their next challenger. "Shouldn't we be going in?"

"Right." The other two couldn't argue with that one.

* * *

Up in the stands, Sena stood directly in the corner. A girl right next to her whispered Sakuraba's name and promptly fainted and tumbled right off. Sena was too late in grabbing her, but she saw a black and light brown-tanish blur catch her. However, due to Sena's own clumsiness, she fell off the bleachers herself.

"AAHHHH!!" Sena couldn't withhold the scream that tore itself from her open mouth and voice box. The fall from the bleachers were at least ten yards up. She curled up into a fatal position that Unsui once showed to her, closing her eyes, and prayed she wouldn't die or get extreme injuries.

It came as a brief shock when she felt two muscular arms catch her. Sena's eyes slammed open and stared up at the person who caught her, a stoic, black haired male.

Before she realized what was going on, she felt herself being ripped away from his arms by skinnier but still rather strong arms. "SENA-CHAN!! Are you all right! Speak to me!" Panic was laced in the voice.

It took Sena several more seconds to process the ultimately familiar voice and face. She blinked. "Ikkyu-niisan? Why are you here?" Realizing how blunt and slightly rude her words were, she immediately apologizing, all the while blushing.

"It's alright Sena-chan, I'm just glad you're alright." Ikkyu beamed down at her, pulling her closer to him tightly.

"Um…" Sakuraba decided to make his presence known, as he watched his fangirl faint once more at just one look at him. "Are you alright, miss?" That seemed to snap the other three out of their musings.

"Y-yes, I-I'm fine. Just a little frightened is all." Sena bowed to Shin. "Thank you for saving me from my fall."

"I could have caught you, but that other girl fell first. A natural reaction to Agon's throwing." Ikkyu huffed, glaring at Shin. It was obvious that Ikkyu was thankful that Shin saved her, but it was also obvious that he wanted to be the one to save Sena.

Shin looked closer at Sena, realizing that she looked familiar, decided to ask her name. "Who are you?" Shin didn't pay any attention to the previous exclamations by Ikkyu, too struck on how familiar she looked.

Sena glimpsed at Shin and Sakuraba, holding down Ikkyu, who was nearly bristling at the fact that any boy other than him or the Kongo twins were talking to her. "Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Kobayakawa Sena. Um…who're you two?"

"My name's Sakuraba Haruto and he's Shin Seijuro." Sakuraba introduced the two of them, all the while giving her a polite smile, hoping against all odds that she wasn't another fangirl. "Nice to meet you." Shin nodded in greeting as well.

"You're the guy Hiruma-san threatened into taking a picture and you're the one who holds the record of 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash." Sena, realizing that she was once again being blunt, did her typical apologizing with a vicious blush adorning her face.

"That's us." Sakuraba's smile became less strained and more genuine at the fact he could clearly see that she wasn't a fangirl.

Having been caught up in the acts previous, Sena now only remembered that she was supposed to be taping the game. Her gaze trailed up to the stands and saw it still in the same place she left it, recording. "I need to be going back to the team. I'm sure they're worried about me."

"All right, let's go, oni, Sena-chan." Ikkyu began ushering her away while she waved goodbye to Sakuraba and Shin. At the very least, he wanted her to stay away from as many guys as she could. Ikkyu got her camera and they headed off towards Deimon's side of the field near the audience's area.

A dark, foreboding feeling crossed right into Sena when she got in sight of her team with Ikkyu dragging her. "Um…Ikkyu-niisan? I'm going to go by my team. I wasn't lying about that."

"I know…" Ikkyu released her and pushed her towards the Deimon team's section. "You should hurry up and go. Hiruma's looks could probably kill me from here."

Sena gulped and looked towards Hiruma. Indeed, Hiruma looked ready to kill with the malicious glare he's sending straight at Ikkyu. "See you later, Ikkyu-niisan."

It took her all but thirty seconds to reach the team. Half-time began nearly fifteen minutes ago and she was dilly dalling from the start of it.

Hiruma grabbed her by her collar and lifted her up to stare directly in her eyes. She flinched from the action, but knew she had no choice but to endure whatever Hiruma wanted. Sena knew Hiruma didn't get along and even hated all of her niisans, and she dreaded to know he now knew. She could feel a piercing glare from behind her, most likely Ikkyu were sending it.

"I'm pretty sure you know about my hatred of them." He didn't bother to hide the fact that he hated her niisans. "Don't let them find out that you're going to be our ace or they'll kill me and the damn fatty, resulting in us being unable to play, got it? I know you know the damn baldy, fucking dreads, and fuckwit backpedal over there."

_Honestly, I thought he was going to kill me_. Sena thought as Hiruma dropped her as the start of the second half of the game was going to start in a minute. "I won't tell them." She understood how protective her niisans could be, and she actually wanted to continue watching Hiruma and Kurita playing football. _Maybe I'll even join in_. It didn't take a genius to realize that football was growing on her.

"Good."

* * *

"The Cupids are on the offensive now." The cheerleaders conversed to each other, thinking of their boyfriends.

"Right! In football, the offense and defense are clearly divided."

Sena watched as Kurita sacked the quarterback of the Koigahama cupids once more, creating a huge dust. On the next play, Hiruma managed to get an interception resulting in Deimon's offense once more. The play after that, Hiruma tried to get a pass through a narrow path, but the receiver was unable to catch the ball, resulting in an incomplete pass.

_I'm starting to understand the rules more clearly._

**First everyone sets up in a basic formation, which consists of the six linemen, two receivers, two running backs, and the quarterback, each having their own designated area. The player at the center of the offensive line…hikes the ball between their legs for the quarterback to catch it. And that's the moment the play suddenly begins. After that, you can pass the ball…or run with it…or kick it.**

_And that's how you try to advance the ball. That's all that I get perfectly so far_. Sena got a shot of the current scoreboard where the points were 0-0. Neither team scored a point, resulting in a current tie.

Third quarter finally ended and Sena could see Hiruma was angrier than before. Sena passed around cups full of water to hydrate the players.

"Damn it! Get outta here!" Hiruma squeezed his almost empty cup and three it away. "Over there…" Hiruma pointed to Shin and Sakuraba, totally ignoring Ikkyu.

"AH! It's Sakuraba." A freaked out expression came over Kurita's face, no doubt remembering Hiruma doing his threat.

"Sakuraba? Who cares about Sakuraba" Hiruma jumped onto of Kurita and forced his head to look at Shin. "It's Shin from the White Knights. He holds the fastest record in high school and he's a powerful linesman. That guy's too strong and his ability as a linebacker is unbelievable – he's not human!"

Kurita's eyes nearly bugged out when he caught sight of Ikkyu sitting not all that far from the two. "What's Ikkyu doing here?"

"The damn pipsqueak knows him. It doesn't matter, his stupidity and oblivious level is nearly fifty percent. I doubt he'll notice her."

"Se-"

Sena cut off Kurita purposely by asking, "What's a linebacker?"

That immediately took Kurita's mind off of Ikkyu as Sena sent him a look that she'll explain later, when no one besides the three were around. "It's a defensive position. A linebacker stops both running and passing – it's a critical part of the defense."

Sena passed Hiruma another cup as he tapped her on the head. "I want to keep our hidden jewel a secret from Shin. Or they'll figure out how to counter her. Shin has that damnable ability to tell people apart from their body. The other two need faces to recognize and the Eyeshield covers the pipsqueak's face." Hiruma tossed his cup away. "I'm gonna put her in as soon as Shin leaves."

_I__t sounds to me like it's a pretty self-serving plan…Unh…but if I go in, I'll get killed and then all three niisans will go on a spitfire rampage. It's scary when it's just Agon-niisan, but when you anger Unsui-niisan and Ikkyu-niisan together…I don't want to think about it anymore._

It continued on into the fourth quarter, neither side giving up.

"Only twenty seconds left!"

_The game's almost over…looks like a tie game, overtime-?_ Sena was unable to finish her thoughts as Kurita tackled one of the players close to where Sena originally stood.

"Uh-oh! They're near the goal line!" Kurita fretted, knowing what was going to happen. Hatsujo only confirmed his fears.

"All right! We can make a field goal from this distance. If it goes in, it'll be 3-0 with just a few seconds left. The game's ours!"

"We've got to lock this kick!" Kurita was becoming flustered and really didn't know what to do.

"You think I don't know that!?" Hiruma was irritated, knowing how bad this type of thing can be. "Ishimaru from the track team, you're the fastest one here!"

Everyone formed a huddle for Hiruma's plan. "Kurita will force an opening in the center wall. You've got to run in there before the kick. You don't have touch the ball, just put the pressure on!"

"Okay!"

"SET!" The play began and the Cupid's kicker got into position. When it looked like Ishimaru would reach them, he slipped on the grass, resulting in the Koigahama Cupid's field goal making the score 3-0.

"I'll be damned! IT WENT IN!!"

"Finally, three points!"

"We scored with only a few seconds to go!"

_Only a few seconds left_. Sena blanched, not believe that their first game was going to be crushed in a matter of seconds. _We're gonna lose? Is this the end of the game?_

"I-Ishimaru!" They all rushed up to the player who slipped.

"Oh, no! I twisted my ankle!"

Hiruma went right up to him. "What the hell are these? These are turf cleats, aren't they? No wonder you slipped in these! Who handed these out!?" Sena let out a gasp, realizing her mistake as Ishimaru howled in pain at the way Hiruma handled him.

"I want to keep her a secret…but I don't have any other choice. Let's hope that they don't figure everything out, especially that damned backpedal." Hiruma closed his eyes and went after Sena. "DAMN MANAGER, C'MERE!! Can't you tell the difference between cleats!?"

"ACK! I'm sorry!" Sena all but wailed, knowing that Hiruma was going to go after her and make her play now that the other team scored.

"I have a few words to say to you." Hiruma grabbed Sena by her collar and proceeded to drag her around the corner.

"We still have a game going on." The team looked on in worry for Sena, not knowing if she was going to survive Hiruma's wrath.

"This is your punishment!" Hiruma's grin freaked the hell out of Sena as he tossed her the jersey and the rest of the equipment out of nowhere. "Hurry up, you damn pipsqueak."

"Yes sir."

"….."

"Yeah, she's a bit shaken up from the 'little' scolding." Hiruma looked pleased with himself as he walked towards the team.

"So who's going in for Ishimaru?" Kurita asked, glancing nervously at the corner to where Hiruma dragged Sena off a few moments previous.

"Our hero in a pinch is on his way."

Sena, hearing those words, took that as her cue to make her appearance. She dashed towards them and had a bit of a problem stopping, but managed to get into a good pose because of it.

"Let me introduce him to you…This is Eyeshield 21! Our running back who can hit light-speed!!"

Murmurs flew around like nothing, reminding Sena of a bunch of girls gossiping.

"Tinted eyeshields are prohibited." The referee pointed out the obvious to Hiruma, who smirked and took out a piece of paper.

"It's for eyestrain…here's a letter of consent from the athletic association."

_It must be fake._

"You changed your mind and want to play?! That's great Se-" Kurita was stopped from saying Sena's full name by Hiruma zapping him.

"What did you say? 'Send out for pizza'?" Hiruma dragged him away from the team. "Oops, you fell down! Here, let me help you up."

When Hiruma was far enough away so no one could hear besides Sena and Kurita, Hiruma immediately began kicking Kurita, making him see stars. "**You damn fatty**! You know what happens if word gets out about Sena to the other sports teams in our school! Ishimaru even said he's **here** to scout!" Hiruma let up on his kicking. "And on top of that…Shin and Ikkyu are here too! I won't want them to have any info on Sena. At the very least, we have to keep her identity a secret."

Sena turned towards where they were sitting, resisting her natural habit of waving to Ikkyu, whom was watching them with blatant interest.

Hiruma walked towards the cheerleaders, grinning. "But let's see if I can't at least get rid of Sakuraba…a simple missile should do it." Arriving by the girls, Hiruma pointed to where Sakuraba was currently located. "Hey, there's Sakuraba Haruto from Jari Productions!"

"Sa-Saku-Sakuraba H-Haruto?!" The girls immediately ran to where their idol were, sending him into a panic and got him running. Shin followed not even a minute later.

_Oh, that kind of missile_! Sena and Kurita unknowingly thought in unison.

"Hey! For some reason Shin took off too!" Hiruma looked pleased that he got rid of Shin too. "Ikkyu might recognize your running ability, but everyone thinks you're a guy anyway. You should be fine."

_Just because I'm a late bloomer. _

"All right! You're gonna dash it as if Cerberus is coming after you." Hiruma grinned at Sena, showing off his pointy teeth. "GO, EYESHEILD 21! There are nine seconds left! Whatever we do, this is the last play!"

**It'll start with the Cupids' kickoff…but there's no way you can catch it. So I'll catch it…and then I'll toss the ball to you. Then you run for the end zone! We'll get six points and it'll be an amazing comeback victory.**

"It's not going to be that easy." Kurita felt dejected, knowing that this was the first time Sena played American Football.

"Watch out, though! If you fall down on the way, it'll all be over!" Hiruma pointed out the obvious.

"B-but…won't eleven guys be trying to tackle me?"

"THIS IS OUR ONLY HOPE!" Hiruma took to shouting at Sena to get it through her head. "After all, you don't want it to end like this, do you?" Hiruma himself knew that she didn't want it to end that way, and that sentence got to her.

Sena stole a look at the Cupids, only to see them looking at her as if they wanted to kill. _There's no way I'll make it to the end zone without getting tackled…! This is nothing like when they're with me!_ She glanced at Ikkyu at the corner of her eye and saw him looking around as if he was looking for something or someone. _How does he face them so fiercely? How isn't he afraid of getting tackled when his position as a receiver practically calls for it when he catches the ball?_ She was broken out of her thoughts by Kurita.

"You'll…probably…be fine!" Kurita tried to cheer her up, but that only resulted in making it worse.

"Really…I'm not very strong. Maybe if I was like Kurita-san, and I were able to grind our opponent into the ground…" She thought about all the times her niisans or Mamori stood up for her.

"No way, Sena…" both Hiruma and Kurita said in unison.

_Rejected in stereo…_

"Who told you to knock down our opponents? Nobody's expecting a show of force from the likes of you."

"Right…but instead…Sena, you've got your legs!"

"Grind 'em into the field!!" Hiruma, for once, showed Sena genuine belief. She didn't need strength like Kurita; she had her own weapon, her golden legs.

**Somewhere in Sena, she felt a different feeling arising. It wasn't something she could explain in words, in fact, she didn't even know what it was. However, the feeling bubbling in her insides brought out the determination that lay dormant in her.**

"And the Cupids' kickoff with nine seconds left in the game."

The Cupids did their kickoff and Hiruma caught it and quickly tossed it to Sena.

_Run straight to their goal. I need to go forward and get past them!_ Sena's eyes began gaining a serious look and she tore down the field. "YA-HA!! Grind 'em!"

_There are eleven opponents…here's the first one_! The first four she easily got by using sharp cuts, nearly slipping because of her sneakers. _One, two, three, four_.

"You idiot! Again with the cleats!" Hiruma roared, seeing her nearly slip.

"What, turf shoes?!"

"No…sneakers!" An exasperated and irritated look crossed over Hiruma's face as mini-tears ran down Kurita's face.

"What are you standing there for?! Stop him!" Hatsujo yelled, pointing towards Sena.

Sena could see the paths to take that she was able to take to get past the Koigahama Cupids. She ran through the path, a straight dash, and a sharp cut in-between the two incoming players. _Five, six, seven…_ Sena concentrated on nothing else but getting to the goal, even if she died trying.

"Crush him! Everyone on him!"

The last remaining four ganged up on her. Another path revealed itself to her. _I-it's gonna be tight!_ Yet, the real thought that lingered in her mind. _Niisans, each of them face this every time they play. I should be able to as well._

However, in one decisive moment, Hiruma and Kurita came barreling through, taking on two of the Cupids in the back. Sena, with her tight squeeze obstacle out of the way, could see a straight path forming. With all her might, she forced herself the go the fastest she ever did. _Eight, nine, ten, eleven!_

_There's no one left! _Sena's expression was one of pure glee_. No one can stop me now!!_

A whistle sounded throughout the air. "TOUCHDOWN!"

Hiruma, in his own glee, let loose several aerial fireworks into the sky. "YA-HA!!"

"Our first victory!! The Devil Bats' first victory!" Kurita threw up several of the team's players, laughing in joy.

Sena couldn't explain how happy she felt as she realized it was because of her that they won. Never before had she done anything like what she did, she never had the courage to do so.

As Sena turned to face the team, she saw them rushing towards her, shouting that she should join their team. Ishimaru, using a pole as a cane, freaked her out the most.

Hiruma caught sight of what they were doing and ordered Kurita, "Damn Fatlock!" Kurita did as he was told and held off the team from going anywhere near Hiruma and Sena.

"If those guys find out who you are…it'd be an all-out battle to snatch you away, I bet." Hiruma glanced back at the team, watching them fight with Kurita to get to where they were.

"I'll never get any rest. I'll spend my entire time at high school being used and abused…but I guess that might not be all that bad…though, I think I might prefer you guys since I only have one specialty."

Hiruma noticed Mamori out of the corner of his eye and saw Kurita having a bit of trouble holding back the team. "Hurry up and get back there! If anyone finds out who you are, then I'm really gonna kill you!" Hiruma pushed her, and Sena seeing everyone coming, took a dig.

She just finished putting on her clothing properly when she heard Mamori's voice, "Sena-chan!" Sena quickly turned around to face her.

"Mamori-neechan?"

Mamori took one look at Sena and thought about what Hiruma must have said to her. "…I'm sorry…I was the one who told you to join a club…" She grabbed Sena and brought her into an embrace, a few stray tears trailing down her face. "Sena…you really tried, didn't you?! I'm so sorry!"

Mamori grabbed a hold of Sena's hands and dragged her over to where Hiruma was.

"Hiruma! Darn it!" Mamori stormed right up to him, still dragging Sena along for the ride. "I won't let you get away with your brutality towards Deimon's first years."

"Won't let me get away with it, huh?" Hiruma's voice was nothing but full of mocking.

"I won't let you…and…" Mamori stumbled on her words, not knowing how to make a suitable comeback on the spot.

"So you're going to make an appeal for the removal of the football club?"

"That's not what I meant? Whatever it is, keep Sena-chan out of it. She's not your concern." Mamori turned on her heel. "Let's go, Sena-chan. We'll find a club that you'll be better off in."

Sena bowed her head and remembered all the times that Mamori's been there for her since elementary school. How Mamori always protected her from bullies and cheered her up whenever she was down. Sena looked at their hands clasped together and watch it fade in her mind when she imagined herself with a football in her hand, like what she experienced under the alias, Eyeshield 21.

Sena let go of her hand and clumsily caught a ball that Hiruma suddenly tossed to her.

"Sena…?"

"I will stay here, in the football club." Sena sent Mamori a smile, her sincere wish to stay with Hiruma and Kurita made Mamori fault.

"What is it that's keeping you here?" Mamori fretted while Kurita cheered that Sena was staying. Hiruma was off to the side, no doubt scheming something.

"Nothing…Sena's place is here," Hiruma answered for Sena. "No one is forcing her to stay." Hiruma placed a hand on his chin and a grin was plastered on his face. "There is no doubt about it! Being a secretary and team manager is too difficult for her to handle on her own. But being the manager as well must be overwhelming for her, if only we could decrease her workload."

"Will I be able to qualify for it? That way I'll be able to help out Sena, right?"

"Anyone can do it." Hiruma knew he had her right where he wanted.

"I'll do it!" Mamori cheered, suddenly looking happy. "Isn't it great, Sena-chan? I'll be able to watch over you?" She embraced Sena once more, squeezing her tightly.

"We've got four members." Kurita looked positively happy with the thought of more members gaining. "We'll finally be able to compete with the Ojo White Knights!"

"Who are we playing next anyway?" Sena wouldn't have questioned if only Hiruma didn't burn the paper with the tournament's listing.

"Ojo White Knights!"

"WHAT!!"

"Sena-chan!" Ikkyu looked happy at finding Sena, but one look at Mamori caused him to blush and turned his gaze to the younger female. He noticed that Mamori held onto Sena rather tightly.

Sena internally panicked. Ikkyu has always been somewhat of a possessive older brother and he hated the fact that he had to share his dear imouto with Unsui and Agon. _Who knew what he would do if he found out about Mamori-neechan?_ Sena was sure that if he held any attraction to her, it'd disappear once she announces that she's Sena's neechan. It didn't matter to him, Ikkyu just wanted to be her only sibling.

"How do you know Sena-chan?" Mamori directed her attention to the one who said Sena's name. He looked vaguely familiar and that's when everything clicked. _He's one of her friends from Kanagawa_. Mamori realized as his looks matched some of the photos that Sena leaves lying around in her room.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Ikkyu sent a questioning look towards Sena, only to receive a nervous smile back. He turned his attention right back to Mamori, knowing that whatever she was about to say, was something he wouldn't like if Sena's smile was any indication.

"They never met?" Hiruma mouthed to Sena, his threat book in hand. Sena shook her head to confirm, and Hiruma let out a smirk.

"I'm her neechan, who're you?" Mamori glared Ikkyu, as if daring him to defy her statement.

Even though Ikkyu could admit that Mamori was attractive, that went right out the window at the sentence, **I'm her neechan. **He glared back at Mamori, clenching his fists. "I believe _I'm her_ _niisan_, oni." He stressed the last four words, watching in satisfaction as Mamori seemed shocked for a moment.

Not even a second later, two very dark auras let loose, making those near them flinch back. Hiruma, meanwhile, was writing everything that happened down, his smirk turning into a full throttle grin.

_Why me?_ Sena nearly wept at the scene in front of her, knowing exactly how stubborn Ikkyu and Mamori were, and how Hiruma could rile both of them up and send them all into chaos.

* * *

And that, my dear readers, is the end of the third chapter.

Thanks to all those who told me where to find some sites to read the manga. Unfortunately, they didn't have volume 2, but I was lucky enough to find volume 3. Even though I prefer buying it, I'll make way with the online scanlations.

I'm sure that it's been a while, but I tried to fit things in as possible. As a reference to where Shin thought Sena was familiar, I remember reading a flashback of Sena and Riku's training and Sena nearly bumped into Shin or someone who really looked like Shin. And he somewhat recognizes her for her body physique, which hasn't really changed all that much. She just grew taller and her face had some changing to it.

I do, however, hope you enjoy that I involved Ikkyu in this one. Hopefully, I didn't screw up his character because this is a new side to him having a non-blood sibling and his reactions towards Sena.

Pairings that seem good so far for my female! Sena:

ShinxSena

KakeixSena

RikuxSena

SakurabaxSena

YamatoxSena

AkabaxSena


	4. How They Met: First Niisan

_**Goal**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21.

Author's Note: This is more of a one-shot than anything. I hope that you enjoy it and I'm sorry for taking so long to post something. Ideas were given by reviewers; I thank you all very much.

* * *

"Sena! Hurry down!! I want you to meet my old friends and their son!"

Sena lifted her head from her position on the bed, her math homework close by, recently finished. She stood up and walked outside and descended the stairs towards the living room. _It's been a while since anyone last came over_. Sena arrived at the foot of the stairs and peeked around the corner of the wall. She saw her mother talking with another woman while a man and boy near her age, or even a little older sitting on the couch not that far away from the two chatting women.

Mihae talked with the Hosokawas, glad to see her old friends. "How are you, Satoshi-san, Kikyo-chan? It certainly been a long time since I last seen you two, and you have a son now! I always knew you two would get together!"

"I know." Hosokawa Kikyo smiled at her old friend from high school. "It's been nearly ten years. Who would have though we'd pass by each other at the grocery store?"

Mihae laughed, her brown eyes sparkling. "Yes, who would of thought? You look so different now, and definitely much more mature." She sent Kikyo a teasing smile and Kikyo blushed knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Well, that's what a case of motherhood would do to a grown woman."

"On the topic of motherhood," Mihae turned to look at the stairs leading to the second story of her house, "my little Sena-chan is a year younger than your dear Ikkyu-kun."

Kikyo blinked, catching herself off guard with Mihae's words. "You have a little girl?"

"Yes, with Shiyuma." Mihae nodded, smiling at the thought of her husband and her angel. "I'll call her right now." Mihae took a deep breath and exhaled. "Sena! Hurry down!! I want you to meet two of my old friends and their son!"

"Same as ever Mihae-san." Satoshi chuckled and Mihae blushed.

Sena stepped into the room feeling nervous as everyone's attention seemed to go straight to her.

"Sena-chan, come over here." Mihae beckoned, giving her shy daughter an encouraging smile. Sena ran to her, glancing at the three strangers in her home.

The black haired woman cooed at how shy Sena's actions were, her face practically glowing. She moved until she was in front of Mihae and Sena and kneeled down. "My name is Hosokawa Kikyo and who might be your name, dear?" Kikyo lifted her right hand for a shake.

Sena shied away briefly, staring at the woman who introduced herself as Hosokawa Kikyo. She stared at Kikyo's outstretched hand, recalling it was an American gesture upon meetings, something she remembered whenever she hung about at Mamori's place. Sena plucked all her courage and placed her small right into Kikyo's. "I'm Kobayakawa Sena."

Kikyo beamed at Sena, finding her absolutely adorable. Kikyo gave Sena's hands a little squeeze and turned towards Satoshi and Ikkyu. "Sena-chan, that's my husband Satoshi and my son Ikkyu."

Sena pulled her hand back from Kikyo slowly and gave a small wave to the two before she promptly hid behind Mihae, causing her to laugh. "Come on out, Sena-chan. They don't bite." Mihae guided her to Satoshi and Ikkyu with Kikyo trailing behind.

"She looks a mightly lot like you, Mihae-san." Satoshi unlatched Ikkyu's grip on his shirt and gave Sena a wave, smiling. "You were just as shy when I first met you."

"Who're you?" Ikkyu rocked back and forth on the couch as much as he could, staring at the girl in front of him curiously. He was irritated that he was forced to come to the place that his parents dragged him off to, where he could have been outside playing around with his football.

"Ikkyu-kun be nice," Kikyo scolded him, and Ikkyu bowed his head in apology at his rude tone. "This is Sena-chan. I expect you to behave well."

"Yes kaa-san." Ikkyu took his time into examining Sena. Dark brown hair to mid-back, she was definitely smaller than him in all ways, height and weight, her brown colored eyes were slanted, and her nose and mouth were, dare he think it, cute on her.

"We'll leave the two of you alone so we adults can have our adult time." Satoshi stood up from his placed on the couch and walked into the kitchen area with the two grown women following.

"Have fun dears." Kikyo and Mihae blew them kisses before they disappeared into the kitchen.

Sena and Ikkyu stared at each other, silence reigning the room, building up the tension. Sena rubbed her hands together, turning to look away from the boy in front of her, feeling uncomfortable. Memories of the bullies at her school had her sweating bullets in her mind, hoping against all odds that this Ikkyu boy was different.

"Do you have any cable?" Ikkyu broke the silence, causing Sena to look at him again. "Ever heard of American Football?" Sena shook her head.

She walked to where the remote controller for the TV lay, and tossed it to Ikkyu who caught it on instinct, making her look at him in interest.

"Let me introduce you to my favorite sport." Ikkyu gently took a hold of Sena's left arm, feeling her tense beneath his fingers seconds later. "It's fine, I won't hurt you if that's what you're thinking, oni!"

"Alright," Sena spoke up for the first time. She watched as Ikkyu gave her a grin and let herself be led to the couch.

Ikkyu flicked on the TV using the remote and changed the channel to his favorite, the Sports channel. It was in the heat of American Football season in Japan, and fortunately for Ikkyu, a game was on. The Kenzen Blazes versus the Helios Serpents and the score was 14-0, the Helios Serpents in the lead.

"It's almost half time, but I'll be able to explain the basic rules for ya, oni!" Ikkyu began explaining all he knew about American Football and Sena listened with a smile, finding her being more comfortable around the spiky haired boy.

Mihae, Kikyo, and Satoshi walked back out into the living room nearly forty-five minutes later, surprised but happy to find Ikkyu and Sena talking and laughing as if they've known each other for years instead of nearly an hour.

"Ikkyu-kun, it's time to go," Kikyo called to Ikkyu, seeing his expression falling at the words: time to go. Kikyo practically smiled at how attached she could see her son being with Sena.

Sena and Ikkyu traded sullen glances, not wanting to part from their newest friend. Ikkyu's eyes brightened a moment later, "Hey kaa-san? Can we come back here sometime, oni? I wanna play with imouto-chan again." Sena nodded, beaming at the adults and the nickname Ikkyu bestowed upon her half an hour ago.

Now it was the adults turn to trade glances. Theirs were full of bewilderment at how quickly their children bonded.

"Sure son," said Satoshi, "as long as the Kobayakawas will allow us to come back." He sent a wink at Mihae who caught on quickly, just as happy as the couple.

"Of course you guys can come back." Mihae watched as Sena's face broke into a wide smile at the thought of playing around with Ikkyu again. "I'm sure the kids would like that very much, along with myself."

"Well now that that's settled." Kikyo clapped her hands together, she smiled a wide smile. "We're going to need to go Ikkyu, but I'll be sure to see whenever we can come over again, and it'll be soon, don't worry." Kikyo added when the children's faces nearly returned to their sad state.

"Say goodbye, for now." Mihae was reluctant to tell the two kids that, but as the day was fading into a gracious evening, Mihae knew that the Hosokawas needed to go so they could catch their train back to Kanagawa. "They may live rather far, but it's easy to travel around in the Kanto area if you know the tricks."

Sena and Ikkyu sighed in unison and turned towards each other.

"It was nice meeting you, Ikkyu-niisan." Sena's shyness returned when the adults entered the room. "Come back soon, 'kay."

"Of course, oni!" Ikkyu enveloped her into a hug. "I just got myself an imouto-chan; I have to see her again. I'll come by whenever I can." Ikkyu pulled back from the embrace, giving Sena another one of his comically wide smiles.

In the next few minutes the Hosokawas left with Mihae and Sena waving goodbye to them from the porch of their house.

"You sure got along well with Ikkyu-kun." Mihae ushered Sena into the house as a cold breeze flew by them, making goose bumps appear on their skin.

"Yeah, he's really nice." Sena smiled in remembrance of her new older brother. "He told me to call him Ikkyu-niisan, saying he'll be my ani since he's been wanting a little sibling."

"I see…" Mihae patted Sena on the head, looking down at her fondly. "Why don't you get ready for dinner? We'll have Yakiniku tonight when your father gets home."

"Alright!" Sena ran to the bathroom to wash her hands and prepare herself to go out and eat at the meat restaurant near her home.

"Oh Sena…" Mihae smiled gently and went off to clean up a bit herself as Shiyuma was going to be home in about ten minutes.

* * *

Sorry that it's so short. As I'm finding it slightly hard to do the scanlations, I'm basically doing these short one-shots in the story explaining the first meetings of Sena with her niisans, maybe I'll even add something in for others. At the moment, however, I'm going to be on a slight hiatus as school's been starting for those that read my profile.

I'm sure you all can tell that I made up the name of Kenzen Blazes and Helios Serpents. If they're real, I have no idea.

So these next chapters are going to be fillers until I find the time to complete the next chapter, which I assure you, I'm starting.

As I'm thinking more of the pairing and what I want for my Sena, would it be better to have something like an everyone/Sena or a pairing that is more focused on only one or a few others with Sena, but not an exact girlfriend/boyfriend? Remember, I don't want a definite pairing for Sena, but a part where they have a deep relationship and a possibility for a romance will be there.


	5. Revelations and Moving Forward

_**Goal**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21 or anything other than my little twists.

Author's Note: I'm pretty sure that this one is going to be shorter or the shortest chapter. There is a long footnote at the bottom, which is pretty important so don't forget to read it. Also, I realize that characters are beginning to become OOC, and if you find it too great of out of characterness, please let me know.

* * *

It took some very long and hard convincing until Ikkyu left to go back to Kanagawa. Mamori openly glared until he was out of sight, efficiently scaring the majority of the people who knew her.

"Believe me when I say they're stubborn," Sena commented to Kurita. He nodded in agreement before the team left to catch their train back to Tokyo.

"Ojo White Knights…" Kurita was shaking; an aura of despair surrounded him, sweat dripping down his forehead. He rocked back and forth on the train seat with everyone watching him freak out.

"Are they really that strong?" Sena thought back to all she knew of the Ojo White Knights, and of Shin and Sakuraba. "Didn't their golden generation graduate all ready?" She remembered watching the Kanto finals, cheering on her niisans. "Some of them are really fast and strong though."

Hiruma nodded at Sena's question, knowing how she knew. "We'll get revenge after last years 99-0. But this year we have Eyeshield 21."

"Oh yeah! Just who is that Eyeshield guy?"

"I need to introduce him to the track and field club."

_Why did Hiruma have to bring me up?_

"Who knows…?" Hiruma let loose a cackle. "All I'll say about him is that after completing his basic training at Russia's prestigious Reskov Athletic Institution. He transferred to Notre Damn University's football exchange program, where he scored 100 points in every game!"

Hiruma leaned forward, grinning, showing his canine teeth. "If they score 99 points, you win the game by scoring 100 points. The most important thing in American Football is offense."

"We protect the running path with our blocking. If we can do that, then Eyeshield 21 will be sure to..." Sena gulped, listening to Hiruma's words, her fists slowly clenching. "Use his moves to score 100 points!"

* * *

Sena walked towards the clubhouse, reading through her management book that Mamori and her spent some time on. "Second game is…Ojo White Knights." Looking down at her clothing, Sena gained a bad feeling. A normal white T-shirt and black spandex mid-thigh length shorts.

_**Wear some comfortable clothing tomorrow; you're going to need it.**_

She glanced despairingly at the burnt up paper that Hiruma destroyed on the train yesterday. _This table can't be right_. She opened the door to the clubhouse breaking a sigh. _There should be another tournament table around…better go looking for it_. Sena frowned as she thought about the condition.

It certainly shocked her when she walked in seeing the entire place cleaned up. _No way_! Sena's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Good morning, Sena-chan," greeted Mamori, putting the finishing touches of her current work. "It was a little dirty so I cleaned up. It might not be that different from before."

_A little dirty is an understatement_, Sena thought dryly. "Not at all, it's nothing like before. Amazing!" Sena closed her mouth and looked at the room closely. However small, the clean up did a lot of good. A table spotless in the middle of the room with three chairs, a TV, and desk in the upper left corner, a basket full of footballs and a locker in the upper right corner and opposite to that was a refrigerator.

"Wow! It's sparkling!" Kurita entered the club house, smiling, carrying plenty of packages full of sweets. "That's amazing!"

"That's amazing!" Sena and Mamori shouted, gawking at all the things Kurita was carrying.

Kurita laid out the sweets over the table with Mamori helping him. Mamori had Sena bring out napkins that they had around near the fridge and Sena ripped pieces off for the sweets to be laid out on and for the three of them to have.

"Yay!! It's Sena-kun and Mamori-san's welcome party!"

As the sweets were revealed, Mamori and Kurita immediately began discussing the different types of desserts that were there.

_How exactly could someone know so much about desserts just by the taste_? Sena stared at them funnily, deciding to stay out of the conversation altogether.

Something light caught Sena's attention and she immediately jumped back and successfully avoided getting any of the desserts spilled on her as Hiruma kicked the table, sending everything that was on it flying. "It's time to get started," announced Hiruma as his dramatic entrance faded. Flipping the table over to make things normal and to show a design of a football field on it, Hiruma placed the box on top of it. "The strategy for the next match!"

Why did you toss the cakes all of a sudden?" Mamori was visibly upset as she badgered Hiruma, efficiently making them look as if they were an old married couple arguing in Sena's eyes. It only heightened the idea by Hiruma's retort.

"Why are you so selfish?" Hiruma cackled as he opened the box he brought along with him.

"It's refreshing to see a normal reaction to him..."

_It's frightening that I'm already so used to him…_

Hiruma shook the contents inside the box out. Figures of the Deimon Devil Bats team came rolling out.

"Ooohhh!!" Sena and Kurita grabbed some of the figures and inspected them. Turning them upside down and marveling at how similar they are to the real thing using plastic.

"These are models that I made for fun last night." Hiruma continued to further amaze them by setting the field with Deimon and Ojo players.

_Where did he suddenly get the Ojo players from?_ Sena looked down at the field, wondering if that was how the play was going to start off, Deimon on offense and Ojo on defense.

"Alright!" Hiruma grabbed a hold of the Eyeshield 21 model. "Let's work on our game plan." Hiruma swiped several of the Ojo players away using the model. Sena let out a high pitch squeak at his actions.

"I knew that would happen…why does this have to happen to me?"

"Why are you so scared, Sena?" Mamori promptly began doing the dishes and cleaning up the mess Hiruma made earlier. "Don't you think that Eyeshield person that should be scared? With that little body of his faces the enemy like that? I bet you'll learn some things from him, Sena-chan. It looks like your physique is about the same." She smiled at her and Sena forced a comforted look to arise on her face.

"I'd be okay if Mamori-neechan knows about the truth…"

Hiruma's eyes flashed. "Shut the hell up! You're placing yourself in danger. Not one word." Hiruma put the muzzle of one of his many guns against Sena's back.

"Hey, you're picking on Sena-chan again!" Mamori put down the dishes in her hands and dragged Sena away from Hiruma.

"But we can't just run all the time. We can't do without passing. What if it's third down and ten more yards to go?" Kurita overlooked the Eyeshield 21 model, a thoughtful expression crossing over his face.

"Who do you think can stop our running?" Hiruma continued using Eyeshield as a male persona for Sena, and she and Kurita were adapting to it quickly.

"Third down is our last try before we have to worry about switching offense and defense in the fourth down, right?" Sena searched her memory of everything her niisans ever told her. _I still need to get some of the rules straightened out. Maybe I can ask Mamori-neechan or Unsui-niisan._

Mamori passed Sena a handbook full of football rules. "Here, Sena, I'll lend this to you. I read the whole thing yesterday."

"That's great!"

"Always such a good student…"

Hiruma leaned back on his seat, looking unimpressed. "I doubt that you got it all by cramming for one night…"

That triggered Mamori's immediate Hiruma reaction. "I did so learn it!"

"Oh-ho, well, what will you do if there is something that you can't answer?" Hiruma put his feet on the table, smirking at her. He lifted his hand and showed her three fingers. "I'll give you three advanced questions." Leaning forward, he continued, "If you get any of them wrong, then you can't argue with me ever again. You'll be an obedient little worker."

Electricity surged between Hiruma and Mamori at the deal. "Fine! Let's go! On the other hand, if I answer them all correctly, then you have to promise not to bully anyone ever again!"

"I'll give you the more informative beginner's lesson over there." Kurita pointed to a table away from the two arguing.

"Thanks…" Sena sweat dropped at the scene in front of her along with Kurita.

"So, football is like baseball, how it alternates between offense and defense. Each team gets four chances when they are on offense." Kurita glanced at Sena, but his attention got taken away by Hiruma pointing his gun at Mamori and Mamori waving her broom in retaliation.

Sena glanced at Mamori and Hiruma as well. "Oh yeah, I remember something like that from the last game…"

Kurita used the football table and models for his demonstration. "The offense's goal is to advance ten yards." Kurita placed the models to where they start off at the forty yard line. "If we start here…"

Sena marked the fifty yard line with a pen. "Then it's to there, right?" Sena finished for Kurita who nodded happily.

"First question…how many meters is ten yards?" Hiruma appeared confident that Mamori would never answer any of the questions right.

"That's easy…" she retorted, "about nine meters."

"Wrong! You must be accurate to the decimal point."

"Th-that doesn't have anything to do with the rules of football!" Mamori protested and Hiruma only cackled at her words. Mamori paused for a moment, contemplating her answer. "It's 9.1440183 meters." Hiruma's face twisted at the fact that Mamori got the answer right.

"If the offensive team…gets past ten yards before the fourth down, then they get another four chances of offense." Kurita showed Sena a demonstration of how it would look like.

"Unsui-niisan and Agon-niisan along with Ikkyu-niisan are usually able to do that when Agon-niisan actually shows up." Sena studied the table hard.

"Yeah." Kurita was still floored at the fact that she knew several of the Shinryuuji Nagas, but unlike Hiruma, he was easily able to let it go. "But if not, then they lose possessions if they don't make the ten yards."

"**Second question!**" At the roar behind them, they turned around to see what was happening now.

"Name all the ways that possession of the ball can change!" Hiruma fired his gun into the air at his irritation towards Mamori. For some odd reason, his bullets just phased right back down missing everyone, and not even putting a scratch on the ceiling.

"When the offense doesn't advance ten yards in four downs; when the ball is kicked out of bounds; the end of the first half; when defense intercepts the ball; when a punted kick stops; when a kick is caught; after points are scored." Mamori listed them making Hiruma already angrier than he originally was.

"Right, so whenever one of those happens, possessions changes. And we go back and forth facing each other's goal line." Kurita let out a light chuckle, hoping to ease the atmosphere that surrounded both he and Sena.

"Is it kind of like a territorial tug-of-war?" Sena decided to just ignore the two arguing in the back of her, finding it in her best interests to pay more attention to Kurita. "You mean each side is supposed to get through this narrow space…? What's the best way to get past them?" Sena bended down so she was eyelevel with the models, studying the places they were positioned.

"Leave it to me!" Kurita moved several of the models as Sena memorized the routes used. "Our positions' role is to form a blocking wall, which creates an opening." Kurita did a flex of muscles, proud of his power that makes him a formidable lineman. "This is where we enter the world of power!"

_Uh…power is not really my best area…_ Sena imagined herself tackling other players out there, and the mere thought gave her shivers.

Their attention was stolen away by Hiruma beckoning them. "C'mon you guys. It's time for some strength training."

_Speak of the devil_. Sena bowed her head and she and Kurita rushed off to follow right behind him.

"WAIT A MINUTE!!" Mamori cried out, looking just about ready to freak out. She ran after them as they were nearly out of the doorway.

It took them less than five minutes to arrive at the weight training side of Deimon's sports' gym. They walked over to where people do bench pressing. "The manager also serves as team trainer. So you'd better learn how to do the bench press."

Kurita led Sena onto a bench and she laid down on it. She placed her hands on the bar, grasping it tighter as she settled into a comfortable position. "Lie down here and spread out your arms and legs like this." Sena did everything Kurita said.

_And I serve as a demonstration dummy__;_ Sena sighed and yielded herself to her predicament.

"You start with light weights. Why don't we start with 20 kg?" Kurita put two five kg weights on and Sena tried to lift it.

"URRGH!" Sena tried her hardest to lift 20, and succeeded on stripping herself the ability to breathe until Mamori came to help her out.

Kurita removed the weights off the bar and Sena tried lifting the bar again. Her arms shook slightly but it was definitely easier for her. "This is better…"

"Just the bar alone is 10 kg." Kurita couldn't help but feel a little bad for Sena while Hiruma looked at her thoughtfully.

Kobayakawa Sena – Bench Press: 10 kg (22 lbs.). High School Record low.

"Is it really that heavy?" Mamori asked as Sena placed the bar back onto the hold. She got off while Mamori tried to give it a shoot. "Can I give it a try too?"

"Be careful, Mamori-neechan…"

"Okay, let's try 20 kg again…" Kurita bounced back and added the weights back on.

"Uh…I guess so…" Mamori tried hard to lift the bar and weights continuingly up and down.

"Wow!!"

"Even she can do it." Hiruma looked down at Mamori. "If you were to give an excuse it wouldn't be surprising. That fucking dreads and the rest of your bastard niisans would rather make you dependent on them. They really should've thought about what would happen when they're not there to protect you."

Can he resist insulting at least one person or something when he's talking about someone? Sena pouted as Mamori placed the bar back onto its hold.

Anezaki Mamori – Bench Press: 20 kg (44 lbs.)

"My turn!" Mamori had to move quickly else Hiruma would fling her off the bench himself. "YA-HA!" Hiruma lifted the bar and weights. Sena was freaked out at the power that Hiruma showed, his physique beating Sena's predictions.

Hiruma Yoichi – Bench Press: 75 kg (165 lbs.)

Sena freaked out more when Kurita did his bench press. Kurita Ryoukan – Bench Press: 160 kg (352 lbs.)

They finished up half and hour later in the gym and returned to the club house.

"You two are free for the rest of the day, but you better show up tomorrow or else." Hiruma's threat was clear as he glared at the three, each nodding their heads fast as Cerberus growled as if backing Hiruma up. "Good, now get out of my sight, you too, fatty."

"Yes sir."

"Sena, do you want to come over? It's been a while." Mamori packed up both her and Sena's things.

Sena shook her head no. "Sorry, but I'm going to try some football things for a while before I head out." Sena picked up her bag and a football. "Thanks for asking though." Sena took off, hoping to find a good area away from the club to practice.

Mamori sighed as she stared at Sena's retreating back. "Oh, Sena, you're starting to become so independent, but still needing someone there for you. Maybe..."

* * *

"Ahh…I've got so little strength." Sena found herself on the side of the school that had a long grass field, a perfect place to train for running. "It's alright – I'll try my best at carrying the ball, and catching it."

She got ready to run and tossed the ball high into the air with all the strength she had. "Whoa! Tossed it too far!" Sena bolted off, eyes staring at the ball. She got in front of it, only to see it land two feet to the side of her. "I didn't even touch it!"

The signs of evening startled Sena when she realized how long she practiced on her own. _I've been training for at least two hours_. Sena know that when she got into something she wouldn't think of how long she would be working on it. _Thankfully I told Kaa-san I might be home late or I'd be sleeping over someone's house_. Sena packed up her gear that she taken out along the time she was doing her training, and headed back to the club to drop off the football.

Yells, gun shots, crashes, and curses met Sena's ears as she neared the clubhouse. Those voices sound familiar. Hoping against all odds she was wrong, Sena ran the rest of the way back. In an uncharacteristic motion, Sena swung the door open and found her wishing the scene was just a nightmare.

_Maybe I'm still in the field, passed out._

Kurita and another guy that Sena vaguely recalled named Yamabushi stood to the side along with Ikkyu, whose gaze traveled to her the moment the door opened. Another older guy that seemed familiar held Hiruma back while Unsui held Agon back. Hiruma was swearing at Agon while Agon thrashed violently in Unsui's hold. Both Unsui and the other guy seemed to be having trouble holding back to the two demonic men in their grasps.

"Sena!" The three previous mentioned cried out in unison and that seemed to stop the other four and caused them to notice her.

"Sena-" Unsui began before Agon cut him off.

"What the hell were you thinking by playing in a damn game, you fucking chibi!?" Agon's expression was anything but friendly at the moment, and Sena winced at the intensity of it.

Sena opened her mouth to reply, but Hiruma was quicker. "Isn't it obvious? She likes it 'cause it's fun. It'll help her grow a backbone and away from you bastards."

Sena let out another wince. _Hiruma-san's really taking this too far. He knows that'll make them angrier._ Out of the corner of her eyes, she watched Yamabushi inch closer to the Kongo twins, who along with Ikkyu, looked pissed off.

"You son of a bitch!" Agon flung himself at Hiruma. Unsui, with all the self-control and power that he could muster, held back Agon giving Yamabushi enough time to get there and help him.

"STOP!!" Sena was visibly upset, and everyone but the Deimon boys faulted. "Please! Just stop all ready!"

"Sena, we told you to tell us if Hiruma was doing anything to you. Luckily, we figured out that Hiruma was forcing you to play American Football after watching your legs in action." Unsui finally managed to talk, giving her a frown as he tugged Agon back a step with Yamabushi's help.

_Again with the Sena senses._

"Football is too dangerous for you."

"Sena." Kurita's whimper at the prospect of losing her got her thinking.

"You'll get hurt really bad." Ikkyu was concerned and the tone of his voice was serious. "We just don't want you getting hurt."

"**Even if you're small and people can catch you, face your fears.**** I do it all the time and it's made me stronger." **Sena recalled a special someone once telling her that. "I have to face my fears," she murmured, her eye's dazed. "It matters not the size, gender, or height. It's about the skill." Her tone was soft, but it echoed throughout the room. "It just helps to have it, but it's not everything."

"Don't tell me you've started liking the fucking game?" Agon came to a stand still. He only listened to Sadoda-sensei, his parents, Unsui, and Sena. No one else was on his permanent good list. "It's too physical."

"I'm playing against Ojo tomorrow." Sena was clear and they all saw it.

"You'll get hurt by Shin's spear tackle." Ikkyu pointed out, hoping that she would back out with her safety in mind. "You met him before, Sena."

The image of Shin tackling her made her cringe, but she held firm to her decision. "I'm going to play in the game tomorrow and you guys aren't going to stop me."

The Deimon boys were quiet as they witnessed the scene in front of them. Kurita looked ready to burst into tears of happiness while the other two looked contemplative. The Shinryuuji Nagas they knew never acted like this. To them, they have a stick shoved up their asses with haughty attitudes to boot. It was like they forgot that they were human too.

"You'll get hurt and we'll never forgive ourselves." Unsui tried to make Sena see their side of the situation, but Sena knew it all too well after having Mamori around for years.

"I need to grow up." Sena obviously didn't want to say anything to them; however, she realized that she needed to do it. "No one can protect me forever. I need to learn how to support myself."

"And doing football helps you with that?" Everyone face faulted from Sena's words, not knowing whether to laugh or get upset.

Sena sweat dropped at the boy in front of her, feeling some of the tension leave her body. "Football is my starting path," she tried to explain to them, knowing it wasn't coming out well, but continued anyway. "There I can use my legs for the good of the team. I can help score points. All my life I've been unable to help anyone like I do in football."

"You do know that there's already an Eyeshield 21." Agon pointed out.

"There is?" Sena tilted her head to the side, looking inquiring at Hiruma who only smirked back.

"You've been parading as him for a while now. You must've known he was real and you're just borrowing his identity for a while until you've become Eyeshield 21."

At Sena's clueless look, Unsui elaborated. "The title 'Eyeshield 21' is given to the best running back in every new generation. In terms, it is said that the current Eyeshield 21 is in the west here in Japan, so you'd be Japan's east Eyeshield 21."

Sena nodded, taking the information in slowly and mulling over it.

"We can't convince you to oni stop, can we?" Ikkyu shook a bit, trying hard to digest the new revelation regarding his imouto-chan. "I don't want to see you hurt. You've always been small and fragile. I still remember what you were like when I first met you."

"But I'm different now." Sena's smile reached her eyes, which showed happiness that they slowly understand her side a bit more. "I just have to have a little bit more freedom to go out and do things. You're always going to be my niisans, nothing will change that."

"Like that's going to make us feel better." Agon scoffed starting another glaring contest with Hiruma.

"Yeah well, you were her _last_ niisan, weren't you?" Hiruma knew he got Agon there when a spark of anger flashed through Agon's eyes.

"Sena…" Unsui found himself having an internal debate. He wanted Sena to not play football so any unnecessary risks and injuries would be avoided, but he could see exactly where Sena was coming from. "Do you really enjoy playing American Football?"

"I do." Sena felt herself going into a dreamy state. A state that she often went into every time she thought about American Football. "The feeling is really different, but I enjoy it nonetheless. I can say that I honestly enjoy playing American Football. It's like the feeling inside of me arises and it's exhilarating."

The Shinryuuji Nagas excluding Yamabushi stared at her hard. Sena shook for a moment before staring each of them in the eye. _I want to continue relying on you all, but I know that I have to grow up sooner or later and start learning for myself_. Communication through the eyes weren't uncommon for the four, and this time wasn't any different. The three nodded and Agon broke free from Unsui and Yamabushi's hold.

"We're going." Agon's abrupt command was met and the Shinryuuji Nagas boys got themselves ready to go. "We're going to be checking up on you even more often now, and going to your games. So expect to see at least one of us there, got it, fucking chibi?"

"Yes Agon-niisan." Relief flooded through Sena's body, the tenseness in her posture going away making her relax.

"Whatever. Make an appointment first. We all have practices too." Hiruma and Agon traded yet another glare. Unsui nodded in confirmation before they all shuffled out, except for Ikkyu.

"Sena-chan!" Ikkyu's call sounded force, but Sena ignored the tone, knowing that Ikkyu was still in a bit of shock at what just occurred. "Your speed will always rival or beat those who are fast. Your body is tiny and light enough to go at the speed you have the potential to run at. Remember that in tomorrow's game. We're going to be there." At Sena's nod, Ikkyu left the clubhouse as well, leaving Sena with the Deimon boys.

"So you're that Sena I've been hearing Kurita going on about," spoke the man that seemed familiar to Sena.

"I've seen you before, haven't I?" Sena knew she was being blunt, but at the moment, she couldn't find herself caring one bit. What she had witnessed was that her niisans clearly hated or strongly disliked the trio in front of her.

"Takekura Gen," was the only thing he offered her.

"Musashi," corrected Hiruma and Kurita, causing Musashi to look at them irritated.

"They act a lot different around you." Hiruma stared hard at Sena, making her go rigid as tension invaded her senses. "Calm down will you, fucking brat? We won't hurt you if that's what you're thinking."

Sena's posture relaxed at his words, finding it close to what Ikkyu told her the first day they met. "I'm sorry; it's just that what happened frightened me." Sena didn't know why she felt like she could tell them anything, just like with her niisans. The boys in front of her made her weary but somehow rejuvenated at the same time.

"That's fine."

"I think you should go home now, Sena-chan. We certainly have a big day tomorrow. And after this, I'm sure you're looking for some rest." Kurita's smile made Sena's heart warm and she nodded.

"Yeah, I should be going." Sena picked up her bag that lay by her feet from where she dropped it when getting situated to the previous scene. "We're meeting here, right?" She looked up to Hiruma who nodded. "Alright, see you all later."

She headed out the door before she paused, leaving her back facing the boys. "My niisans have always been unreasonably protective of me when they realized that I was being bullied before I met them, and it didn't help that my second encounter with Agon-niisan was that he needed to save me along with Unsui-niisan from a bunch of bullies after me here in Tokyo. They mean well and are only looking out for me. I know that you guys don't like my niisans at all, but I can see that you're actually trying hard to tone it down for my sake. Thank you." With those words, she too, left the clubhouse.

_I first started out not wanting to play American Football, but __as I think about it now, I know that playing that sport is what I honestly want. If niisans and Hiruma and the others can stand being tackled despite how good they are, than so can I!_

* * *

And that everyone is the newest installment in my Goal story. I was tickled pink by the fact that I have a lot of reviewers, favorites, and story alerts. It made me smile when my favorite count was **21**. So thank you all for those that review constantly, and those who reviewed at all. Plus, all those that have favorite and alerted me for this story.

School has been clogging me up, but thankfully, I managed to buy the second volume so I can work on some of it at school or other places that I go to. So hopefully updates come faster.

I recently created a forum in the Eyeshield 21 section so if you want to check it out, that would be nice.

Last but not the least, I've been thinking of the pairings. Shin and Riku sound the most appealing to me, so I think I may be focusing on them from early on, and Kakei and the rest will naturally come in when they show up in the series. I'm basically almost doing an everyone pairing with some more implied than others. But if I were to pick a pairing, I can see Sena compatible with Shin or Riku the most.


	6. How They Met: Second Niisan

**Goal**

Disclaimer: I don't own Sena or anything that deals with Eyeshield 21. I do, however, own all these filler chapter thoughts.

Author's Note: The next update might take a while, but I'm hoping that you will all be a little satisfied with this. The next chapter will be back on track, and heaven knows how long it takes me to just write one chapter of those.

Thanks to Shinnie for being my beta. She's awesome! I can't thank her enough for helping me. She really showed me some things that I never noticed before.

* * *

A cold breeze drafted by, leaving Sena shivering for a few moments before a jacket was draped over her shoulders.

"It's in the late part of fall and even with your jacket on, you freeze, oni." Ikkyu patted her on the head, causing Sena to pout. The cloudy sky lay overhead and as stronger winds blew through the the park, the tree branches swayed to the sound of the ghostly winds.

"I can't help it; I just tend to become cold really easily."

Ikkyu shook his head and laughed. "You should wear a heavier jacket- yours is too thin." He grabbed a piece of her jacket and rubbed the material between his fingers. Yup, it was a thin, flimsy material alright. How Sena managed to last this long without a thicker, sturdier jacket, Ikkyu had no clue.

Sena watched him do it with a smile on her face. Over the course of half a year, she felt closer to the boy almost more than anyone else- it was like she had known him all her life.

"I'll be fine, Ikkyu-niisan," Sena almost sighed in an exasperated manner before she gave her 'big brother' a worried look. "But won't you start freezing now you don't have your jacket on?"

She didn't want someone else to freeze because of her.

"Don't worry about me, Sena-chan," said Ikkyu, pounding a fist to his chest, "I'll be able to take care myself, but you're my imouto-chan. You come first, oni!" He gave her a smile, waving his hands around.

Sena smiled at Ikkyu once more. And as she went to say something to him, someone beat her to it.

"Ikkyu, is that you?"

Ikkyu and Sena turned around to see who spoken to Ikkyu, and came face to face with a tanned bald boy near Ikkyu's age, with a serious but kind face.

"What's up, Unsui?" Ikkyu traded greetings with Unsui, all the while pulling Sena behind him, as if to shield her away from the newcomer.

Alas, the inevitable motion of Unsui noticing Sena happened, to Ikkyu's irritation. "Who is she, Ikkyu?" Unsui's stare made Sena uncomfortable from the mere intensity of it. She gave a small gulp, and clutched onto Ikkyu, ducking behind him even further.

"This is my imouto-chan." Ikkyu, who was happy-go-lucky moments before, became serious and prideful. At Unsui's raised eyebrows, Ikkyu continued. "Our parents are good friends and I got to know her. From there, I declared her my imouto-chan." Ikkyu's mood swings astounded Sena at times.

"Nice to meet you." Though Sena did not stutter, the shaking her hands was producing even while clinging onto Ikkyu made Unsui ease up on his searching look. It was easy to notice that she was easily intimidated.

"My name is Kobayakawa Sena."

"Ah, my name is Kongo Unsui." The smile that Unsui sent her caused her to stop shaking, but she still felt uncomfortable around him. The shyness that Sena felt around this stranger wouldn't go away that easily.

"So, what brings you here?" Ikkyu broke in, tightening his grip on Sena's small hands, which gave her a bit of reassurance that he would be there if things went wrong. "Usually you're off training somewhere."

_His possessiveness is starting up again._

"Today is my day off, and Agon had wondered off here in Tokyo." Unsui didn't need to explain anymore as Ikkyu nodded in apparent understanding. Unsui then continued, "And I'm guessing you're here because of Kobayakawa-san?"

"You can just call me Sena," the girl broke in shyly. She knew that it was inappropriate of someone of the opposite gender to call her by her first name. _But it's weird being called by my last name, and it's so long_.

Unsui nodded, a look of awkwardness displaying across his features, but he let it go. "If that's what you want."

A growl came from Ikkyu's stomach followed by two others made all three blush in embarrassment. "Uh...wanna go get something to eat?" Ikkyu let out a laugh as Unsui and Sena nodded.

"That'll be good," Unsui said dryly, placing a hand over his own growling stomach.

Ikkyu began dragging Sena along with Unsui following behind closely. "I'll take you to my favorite food place here in Tokyo. The noodles and meat are oni awesome!"

"Oyako Udon?" Sena beamed at him brightly, her childish and innocent happiness at the thought of being able to eat her favorite food burned through her previously timid demeanor. Ikkyu grinned at the eleven year old.

"You really are cute." Ikkyu patted her on the head before they headed off, with him leading and dragging Sena behind him. "You really are cute." Ikkyu patted her on the head before they headed off, with him leading and dragging Sena behind him. She pulled his jacket closer to herself with her right arm, briefly catching sight of a boy close to Ikkyu's and Unsui's age watching them. She shivered as another cold wind passed by before she walked at the same pace as Ikkyu, letting the boy fade from her mind.

The restaurant was a nice, quaint, and open place with tea-green walls and golden oak chairs and tables. It was rather quiet compared to the rest of the busy street and the three had sat down to their food (yakisoba, yakitori, oyako udon, ponta, miso soup and hot tea) being laid out neatly on the table in front of them.

Ikkyu had ordered the yakisoba and ponta. The oyako udon and the hot tea was Sena's order while the yakitori and side order of miso soup had been Unsui's. The aroma of all the smells combined together was appealing to the three young teens.

"Thanks for taking me along." Unsui was half way through to finishing his food. He gave the two in front of him an awkward smile, not used to the loving sibling-like atmosphere that Ikkyu and Sena radiated together. As far as he could remember, he and Agon never once shared anything of the sort. The way that Ikkyu wanted to hold Sena's hands and guide her everywhere, and the rather obvious possessiveness that Ikkyu held over Sena, it made Unsui envy them in his heart. He and Agon never did anything together anymore ever since they were toddlers. After his brother showed his God Speed Impulse, most of their interaction was limited to sports.

"No problem." Ikkyu took a bite out of his yakisoba. "It looks like Agon isn't here." His gaze swept across the immediate area, searching for the younger Kongo twin.

"Unfortunately, which means I have to find him before I return home." Unsui ate another piece of his Yakitori.

"You're so uptight, Unsui. I mean, we're only twelve for Kami-sama's sake!"

"Someone has to be the serious one. As the two of us clearly know Agon…"

Sena watched the two boys talk. The impression of the two going to the same school had Sena feeling more uncomfortable. It wasn't like she minded Unsui, but Sena was only beginning to learn how to trust other people. _Ikkyu-niisan wouldn't be friends with any bad people if he could help it_.

"Just make sure he doesn't do anything to imouto-chan." Sena's attention was brought back to the conversation at hand. Ikkyu was serious in his words and she could tell by his tone. Agon's reputation preceded himself and Ikkyu didn't want his sweet naïve little sister falling into the hands of boy who wouldn't take care of her as well as he should.

"I know." Unsui's gaze flickered towards Sena before he looked Ikkyu in the eye. "Though she doesn't seem like Agon's preferred type, I don't want to take a chance, and surely you don't want to either."

"How did you two meet?" Sena spoke up suddenly, making them turn their attention to her. "I mean, do you guys go to the same school?" Sena's cheeks were tinted pink. She was growing curious about what the relationship the two in front of her had, and she wanted to satisfy her curiosity.

"Now that's an interesting one, oni." Ikkyu sported a thoughtful expression, thinking back to when he first met Unsui. "I met you before I met Agon, right?"

Unsui nodded in confirmation. "We met on the first day of junior high. And we were both in the same classes and club."

"Yeah, I'm already a regular on the football team," said Ikkyu, pride shining in his eyes. "I play the wide receiver and cornerback position like I told you before, and Unsui here plays quarterback."

"Our positions are well in-tuned with one another." Unsui offered as a simple explanation. "The quarterback is the most important player on the field and because of that; I felt the need to know all of the players I play with."

"In accordance to my relation to Ikkyu, the quarterback passes the ball to a wide receiver, Ikkyu is, so we work together at least once during a game. And it's good to know the people you are to be working with and try having them get along well. It helps when you're able to trust in your own self, and in others."

Sena digested the information as she finished off her meal. "So you guys know each other more from football than classes?"

"You'll understand it one day," they said simultaneously. They traded looks as Sena thought more on the situation.

"Would I ever be able to play football with you two?"

"It's not a sport for girls, and you'll only end up getting hurt." Ikkyu shot her down quickly, frightened at the prospect of Sena being hurt by murderous tackles.

"What he means is," Unsui took a lighter and more diplomatic approach as Sena's happy expression fell, "football is a dangerous sport, and your physique is rather delicate. People are tackled all the time during the game and you could get seriously hurt from it."

"I understand." Sena frowned, but knew what they spoke of to be true. _It didn't mean that I have to like it though._ Despite wanting to do the same things as her niisan, she was at a complete disadvantage. Ikkyu would never dream of placing her in any situation that she could end up being hurt.

"It's nothing hard, oni," Ikkyu added on, trying to soften the blow he did. "It's just something that is too violent for you." Either way, Ikkyu was forced to reject her and tell her she wasn't cut out for American football.

"**Nothing else matters but your speed."**

That quote a certain someone gave her ran throughout her mind. Sena knew she had a long way to go before she reached his level of speed. It was hard with the way she strained to improve each day, but she was beginning to see a difference in her speed from before. "It's alright. I know you're only looking out for me."

"Of course, oni!" Ikkyu gave her a wide grin. "I'm your niisan and it's my job to look after you."

_It seems like he liked to say that often, as if he either wanted to make a point or hammer said point in._

A beeping noise rang out immediately after Sena finished her thought.

Unsui dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone. His parents had given him and Agon one each for their birthday last year since they tended to go to all sorts of different places without informing anyone other than each other.

Unsui looked at the caller ID and saw it was Agon. "Where are you, you idiot?!" Unsui made sure he wasn't loud, realizing that they were still in a quiet restaurant.

Sena and Ikkyu watched as Unsui talked on his phone.

"His facial expression is changing a lot," Sena commented, pointing out the obvious. _I always thought that he was some unwavering, super calm, and controlled person, but he isn't right now_. Sena thought, as she took another sip of her lukewarm tea.

Ikkyu finished off his Yakisoba and gulped down the rest of his Ponta. "That must be his younger twin Agon. Unsui only gets like this when he calls or is around."

"Oh…"

"By the way, why's your vocabulary so large?" Ikkyu always wondered about that, especially since Sena was only eleven. It reminded him of Unsui far too often, the way she spoke.

"I listen to my parents speak all the time and they're always using the words I'm using now," Sena shrugged, not really having noticed her large vocabulary for her age. "And my friend helps me out too by teaching me. She's like my tutor of sorts. She always helps me with my academic studies as I have trouble with it sometimes."

"Who is this person?"

"A family friend's daughter. Our families are good friends, though you wouldn't know her."

The bill came soon after they had all finished their meals and they all pitched in to pay for it.

As that happened, Unsui continued to argue on the phone. After a few moments, scowling, Unsui hanged up his phone. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to be leaving now."

"It's fine. I need to take imouto-chan home anyways." Ikkyu stood up and the other two followed suit.

"It was nice meeting you, Kongo-san." Sena bowed to him, feeling a lot more comfortable around him than when they first met. On that note, she observed many things about him with his phone chat with Agon.

"You can call me Unsui if you want, Sena-chan." Unsui reached over and patted her on the head, ruffling her hair. He stared at the two and wondered if he and Agon would or even could have ever been like that with one another.

"Unsui-san then," Sena smiled shyly, and Unsui nodded, giving her a smile as well.

"See you on Monday Unsui, for practice." Ikkyu clasped hands with him before taking a hold of Sena's in his own.

"I'll hopefully see you both later."

"Of course."

The three parted with Unsui heading off to where Agon was supposed to be while Ikkyu and Sena journeyed back to Sena's house, where Ikkyu was sleeping over for the night.

"He's pretty nice." Sena leaned into Ikkyu as they walked, happy about the day's events.

"See, all it takes is a little push to get to know people, oni." Ikkyu couldn't help but feel glad that Sena was starting to open up to others. He didn't like the fact that he had to share her, but it was good seeing her breaking out of that enclosed shell she seemed to have locked herself in. During the time he knew her, she only seemed to talk to him or that other girl that he didn't know without the others being bullies. "You made yourself a new friend."

* * *

And this concludes the first time she met Unsui. Not that much interaction with the two, but the next filler would have plenty of that.

I'm aware that the characters may drift out of their canon characterization because of the fact that I'm mixing some things up in their personalities to make them fit better with Sena. I'm trying to keep everyone in canon as much as I can, all the while having my own adjustments to it.


	7. Courage Escalates

**Goal**

Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21, only my own twists.

Author's Note: This one is rather short compared to the other real chapters.

* * *

The next morning went by Sena faster than the speed of light. All she was aware of before she returned to reality was that she was on a cart being wheeled by the current wide receivers and linebackers (why, she had no clue and she was sure she didn't want to ask).

Hiruma whipped the air behind the runners cackling.

"Hurry, he's going eat you all up!" And true to his words, Cerberus was right behind those wheeling the luggage, drooling and salivating- as if the unfortunate souls were slabs of meat he desperately wanted to get his jaws around.

The Deimon Devil Bats arrived on Seisen field, freaking out bystanders with their dramatic, rather "old school" entrance, and Hiruma's demonic visage.

The field looked to be clear of any people, ignoring those milling and crowding around on the sidelines, Plenty of females were sitting in the stands closest to the Ojo White Knights with cameras, phones- basically anything that could be used to take a picture, readying their devices in order to take quick snapshots without having to fiddle around.

"Wh-why are there so many…" Sena trailed off, looking around the field nervously.

"This is just a local game, right?" During their first game, there was nothing like this- nothing at all. Hell, there were even more girls than at their game with the Cupids. The last time she saw anything this crowded was when she went to watch last year's Christmas Bowl.

"They're here to see Sakuraba-san!" Kurita informed Sena and a light bulb went off in her mind.

_That's right…Sakuraba-san is very popular from being in Jari Productions, isn't he?._ Sena looked around for the blonde idol, and the other boy that saved her from her fall. _Shin-san…_

While eyeing the Ojo White Knights, Sena's gaze came across of a news crew rushing towards their players.

"The TV station is here too!" She gaped, causing Mamori to look over as well, wanting to see them with their own eyes.

"That must be why we're at this nice field. I've never played on real grass before." Kurita marched in place for a moment before pressing his feet down side to side, taking in the difference of the grass field compared to the usual artificial turf Deimon was more used to playing on.

On the other side of the field, Ojo's coach looked at his watch and announced loudly enough for Deimon to hear. "All right, it's two hours before the game – time for one last light meal."

The Deimon players watched in envy as Ojo opened their bentos filled with mouth watering lunches and the coach continued to speak.

"Carbohydrates and Vitamin C! It'll give you plenty of energy!"

"You can really tell the difference between the teams…" Sena sweat dropped, looking back and forth between Ojo and Deimon. She lowered her head in submissive and depressed way.

"Damn it. My stomach's grumbling just looking at that," uttered Satake, and as if that sentence was the signal, the stomachs of everyone growled in unison.

"It's not nearly so deluxe…but I made these, and Sena-chan helped a bit as well. Please, help yourselves," Mamori suddenly spoke up, as she brought out a large box wrapped neatly in cloth.

Inside was a variety of choices. Mamori had made rice balls and cut the apples into small slices earlier that morning, each being almost the same size as their character. While last night, Sena and Mamori made sugar-free strawberry jello that they usually made together for any upcoming physical that both were aware of.

Each of the players grabbed a rice ball each and took a portion of apples and jello, seemingly enjoying it- hell, even Hiruma had nothing to say against it.

_I think it's because the jello is sugar-free… _

"This is so much better!"

"Ours are awesome!"

In a swift moment, Hiruma grabbed onto Sena's shoulder not even a few seconds after those last phrases were said. When Mamori went to complain, she kept quiet hearing Hiruma's words.

"It looks like your beloved niisans are here. All three of them," Hiruma sneered, glaring at the Shinryuuji Nagas, and Sena briefly bowed her head at the intense hatred she could feel laced intertwined with his words.

Sena scanned the bleachers looking for her brothers. The swarm of females was making Sena's head spin with their nonstop chattering about Sakuraba this and Sakuraba that. It was beginning to grate on her nerves that she couldn't see her niisans anywhere- it was just girls, girls, and more girls! Not a single boy in sight! Sena's eyes finally trailed to the end of the bleachers and caught sight of very familiar tan colored uniforms.

She waved at them, but realized they hadn't seen her because at the very moment she spotted them, the news crew that was by the Ojo players earlier, was now by them and asking them questions.

Noting that the girl had seen them, Hiruma let go of her shoulder. His gum made louder snapping noises in his mouth and he blew bubbles every now and then until it popped. He couldn't help but feel a surge of hot boiling wrath every time he saw a Shinryuuji member- particularly the Kongo Twins. It was too much of a reminder of what could have been. He

glanced towards Kurita for a moment. Now while he wanted to blame and dislike Sena for knowing them, even he had his own set of morals, despite how twisted most were. He was the one that forced Sena into joining the team after all- and it wasn't as if Sena had anything to do with what had transpired in their last year of junior high after all.

"Sena…" Mamori's voice caught Sena's attention quickly. It sounded rather sad and disbelieving. She turned around to face Mamori and was surprised to actually see a depressed look in her eyes.

"You have more niisans? It's those Kanagawa boys, isn't it?"

Sena smiled, a guilty feeling worming its way through her at Mamori's expression and words. She hadn't meant to keep her out of that mess. "It's a bit complicated."

"How so?" Mamori placed her hand on her hips, frowning.

"My niisans are different; sometimes they can be much worse than Hiruma." When it looked like Mamori wanted to say something, Sena hurriedly continued, "They're just really protective of me, there's nothing wrong with that, but sometimes they take it too far and they don't like it when others try to play hero for me. They're already fighting with each other because of me."

And the unspoken thing that both Hiruma and Sena knew, _and it didn't matter who you were, they're possessive and won't mind doing anything in their power to get their way. They'd just about kill anyone if it means to protect me._

Hiruma left and hauled all the players up (with the exception of Sena) to hurry and change as the game was going to start soon. When they were about to enter into the locker rooms around the corner, Hiruma turned to glare at Sena, sending a message to her with just one look before he too disappeared into the locker rooms where the team had entered moments before.

_But t-they're here!_

It took the boys about ten minutes before all of them were out and dressed in Deimon's football uniform.

"Ready, you damn lumps?!" Hiruma slammed the butt of his gun onto the ground with a loud thunk. It was reminiscent of a no-nonsense commander barking out instructions to his soldiers.

"Today's game is different than last time. This is no child's play football game. **This is war**!"

"So, you mean Shin will be playing, right? I wish I could get outta here…" Sena overheard one of the players talking to another.

"I don't even want to think about last year's practice game…"

"Last year? Did something happen?" Sena couldn't help but blurt out. She distinctively remembered hearing about last year's practice game between Ojo and Deimon. The picture that Hiruma forced Sakuraba to take flashed in her mind, and Sena even recalled Agon trash-talking about both teams.

"Two of our support players received some broken bones," answered Kurita. The time that she first met Kurita popped into her mind. Two guys having been tackled by Shin on the video tape.

_Shin-san…_Sena couldn't help but shudder at the thought of getting tackled by him.

"Take it easy – Eyeshield 21 will be the one with the ball. He's the only one Shin will be trying to tackle"

At Hiruma's sudden announcement, Sena suddenly felt sick to her stomach. The comments by the others weren't helping her in the slightest; it only served to make her feel even more scared.

"Part of me would like to get a little revenge, though, for those broken bones, you know. I'm going to do the best I can."

"Right! Especially since we've only made it to our second game. If we ran away now, it'd be a shame."

Hearing those words, Sena didn't know what to do. _Didn't I promise my nii-sans that I'll be in the game too? That I was going to stay with Hiruma-san and Kurita-san? If I leave now, wouldn't I be abandoning them?_

With that in mind, Sena took off running, knowing what she needed to do to make things right.

The game was going to start in little less than ten minutes and Sena still hadn't made it back. Hiruma turned around to glance at her, to tell her that she'd be playing in the game from the beginning, only to see that she had vanished.

"Hey! Where did that damn squirt go off to now?!" Hiruma roared when his voice box caught up to his mind. He turned his glare to Mamori, wanting an explanation.

"Hey, who are you calling squirt?!" yelled Mamori before she dug into her pants to retrieve her cell phone. "If you mean Sena, she went to buy videotapes. Don't you even suggest that she's slacking off!" She showed him the text message Sena just sent her, but that only further enraged Hiruma.

"SHE GOT AWAY!!"

"WHAT?!"

It was a wonder that no one had noticed that they were talking about Sena.

"Cerberus!" Hiruma called out his ever faithful pet as he got out a box full of hair. In it, he grabbed a small zip block bag with Sena's name on it. Hiruma dug out a bone treat and placed both items by Cerberus who sniffed the hair and ate the bone.

"Go get her!" Hiruma quickly shoved the bag back in the box, chopping the chain holding Cerberus back with an axe, allowing the demonic dog to charge off.

"Yikes!" It didn't take long; possibly half a minute before Cerberus came back, dragging Sena by the foot, where she was clad in the Deimon football uniform.

"Well that was quick," Hiruma commented in surprise, turning around to find Sena- just not in the way he thought she'd be found.

"Whoa! Eyeshield 21!" The team was exhilarated to catch sight of their mysterious football hero.

"That's an elaborate way to make an entrance." Ishimaru's comment had others nodding in agreement.

"We've been waiting for you!"

"Teach the White Knights a lesson!"

Choruses of "Yeah" were swarming around Sena, making her feeling a little overwhelmed.

"We need you to sacrifice yourself to Shin's tackle."

_This is what they really want…_Sena was tearing up a little inwardly, but no one noticed.

"S-Sena! I though you had gone home…" Kurita tried to be quiet with Sena's name, but he was happy that Sena didn't decide to ditch.

"No…I wouldn't…especially not with everyone so fired up. I figured it wouldn't look very good if the hero from Notre Dame took off. I'm really just some girl who was given the title of a false hero, but I'll try my best. I promised all of you yesterday that I would play in this game, and I will!"

"Sena." Kurita smiled warmly at the female first year. Kurita never been close to any female, and somehow, the feeling of pride bubbled up in his chest at the girl's words.

Hiruma kicked her out of nowhere and she let out a loud yelp. She rubbed her slightly aching back, frowning.

"What? What did I do to make him so mad?"

As if he was ignoring Sena, Hiruma made a motion with his finger, shouting, "Huddle up!"

"He's not mad at you at all…" Kurita looked at Hiruma in amazement. It wasn't often that Kurita happened to see Hiruma acting like that.

All the Deimon players got into the huddle, each with a serious expression on their faces.

Hiruma had taken his helmet off, so the players could see his face. "We didn't come here to defeat our opponents." A demonic look formed on Hiruma's face, making him look more of a devil than anyone would care to admit.

"**We came to kill 'em!**"

"**KILL! KILL! KILL THEM! YEAH! YA-HA!"**

And across the field with the other team--

"**Glory on the…Kingdom! YAAAHH!"**

And as the battle cries of the two teams echoed throughout the field, each side immediately got into position, ready to begin the game.

"**And now for the kickoff! I wonder how many points the White Knights will win by!"**

The kickoff of the Ojo White Knights started the game with the Deimon Devil Bats on offensive while the Ojo White Knights were on defense. The two opposites of each other, destined to be the other's rival in the name of American Football.

"Urgh…this game isn't going to be anything like the game against Koigahama," the Deimon quarterback growled to himself.

The moment that Hiruma caught the ball, he was immediately tackled by Ojo's defense. At first, everyone had assumed it was Shin because of how quickly Hiruma was tackled and consequently, they were surprised to see Shin seated on the bench.

"S-Shin's been benched!" was the surprised cry.

"What the-?" Everyone's attention was brought to Shin as many more began noticing him on the bench.

"Wha-?! Shin is on the bench! Well, I guess they don't really need to put him in against Deimon but…" one of the Shinryuuji Nagas that were videotaping, complained.

"Ah, well, just shut up and-" Agon was cut off by Hiruma's obnoxious shouting.

"We've got a chance!" Hiruma let out a horrible cackle.

"EYESHIELD 21!!" He motioned towards the audience. "Everyone in the stadium is looking down on us. They think the White Knights will win by 100 points." He jabbed a pointed finger at the masked player's direction.

"You're gonna knock them off their feet!" And that was enough to grab the attention of anyone watching the duo.

"What is that fucker planning on doing with Sena?" Agon growled as Unsui's eye twitched at Hiruma's yells.

"Set!! Hut! Hut!" Hiruma began shouting the starting signals.

_These cleats make a big difference. I can really dig into the ground._ Sena slid her feet an inch across the grass. _I feel like…I really want to try them out!_

"Hut! Hut! HUT!"

In a decisive moment, Kurita snapped the ball towards Hiruma, who immediately caught it. Kurita and the rest of the linemen began their battle with Ojo; Kurita and Otawara going all out in their battle of power. Hiruma got into position of handing the ball to his running back, and Sena took that as her cue to rush in and take it off his hands.

Sena ran down to the right side of the line, but two of the linebackers were in front of her. _ACK! They've already here. These guys are good._

Sena tried to keep the ball close to her, but her grip was loose and Otawara, catching sight of that, lunged towards her, and managed to slap it out of her weak grasp. As the play continued, the chance for a fumble was high. The ball flew through the air and Sena ran after it, along with at least five other bigger males and half the line. One dog pile later and it was thanks to Kurita that Deimon managed to keep possession of the ball.

"Hey you." Hiruma came up right behind Sena, scaring her. "When you're running, how do you carry the ball?"

"How? Like normal?" Sena held the ball in the crook of her arm, only to receive a sharp smack to the head from Hiruma.

"You damn shrimp! You're clueless about protecting the ball!!"

Hiruma began his little demonstration quickly as the time for a huddle was closing in. "Hold the end of it between your fingers…" Hiruma held one side of the end and had his fingers spread out. "And tuck it into your armpit!" Hiruma finished, showing Sena the correct way to carry the ball.

She quickly tried it, taking in the difference between how she held it previously and compared it to now.

"If she had been holding the ball normally, that fucker would have tackled her. He's dead after the game." Agon was seething as he glared at the Ojo White Knights key lineman. He could feel his blood boiling and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

"Agon, calm down, I'm sure that she'll be alright. She has her legs, and Shin's on the bench." Unsui was surprised to find it easy to ignore his teammates' queries. If they continued to ask what the twins were talking about, Unsui was sure that Agon would explode in a fit of anger.

"That was oni close, though." Ikkyu frowned, adding in his own two cents. He panicked when he saw Otawara go after her. Otawara was at least three times her size, which meant that she could have easily gotten hurt and crushed. If she did receive any major wounds (as their coach managed to get wind of what was going on and warned them not to do anything, and only said a little to Agon about not damaging them horribly if she wasn't hurt immensely), someone was going to die afterwards.

"It's those fucking linemen that Deimon's got. The fatty's concerned more for Hiruma as that's what they're half way there for though it's usually more for when the running backs run since Deimon doesn't have any good wide receivers; Deimon still has a weak line. Following that, Sena might get hurt and I really will kill someone." Agon was calming down, if only slightly and more for his environments sake.

He would gladly do anything to just about anyone around him, it wasn't like he cared, but Unsui cared more for the people around him because he knew Agon could take care of himself and would most likely fly off the handle if he didn't care about others.

Deimon got into another huddle. "All right, we'll do the same as before. Eyeshield 21 will slip by on the right edge of the linemen." Hiruma focused his attention to the linemen, glaring. "Linemen, you'd better block as hard as you can!"

That set off some complaints from the linemen besides Kurita, which immediately caught Hiruma's attention. With a glare, Hiruma spoke, "There's no way amateurs can stop the White Knights. So I'm not expecting perfect blocking from you." Hiruma held out his hand with his fingers spread. "Half a second."

"You've got to hold your assigned man for just half a second. That's enough time for Eyeshield 21 to get through!!"

"Sena, Sena!" Kurita rushed up to her, beaming. "The White Knights' defense is probably the best in the country. It's too much to ask that one person beat them so think of us linemen and Ishimaru as your shields!"

"Shields?" Sena tried imagining it, and it only set her off trying to withhold chuckles that threatened to escape her. It was a rather amusing mental image after all/

"SET!!"

_Hiieee…I know what they meant to tell me, but really…_

Sena's attention was captured by her cleats again._ Last time…the cleats really worked. I didn't slip at all; I don't have to worry about it. And my feet feel protected too._ Sena was able to imagine her cleats as if it were armor. _And now I know how to hold the ball… _Sena's hands tightened her grip on the ball, and she imagined armor being there to protect the ball. She stared straight ahead at the line and pictured each of them as shields._ I can do this!! Maybe…_

"HUT!"

Kurita once more snapped the ball to Hiruma, who quickly handed it over to Sena. With her newfound advice, Sena used it to her fullest capabilities and ran directly to the right side, using Ishimaru as a shield.

_I don't need to run away…I have shields!_

Sena saw an incoming defensive back, but Ishimaru was quick to intercept, giving her enough time to run straight ahead and into the path that she chose to take.

"**He broke free!"**

Sena managed to get by another defensive back, safety, and another linebacker. She used a zigzag route that Hiruma had her practicing the past few days. The pathway to scoring a touchdown was in her sight. Everything was clear; her teammates had done a good job of leaving everyone out of her path.

"Only 30 yards left to the goal line!"

"On the 20!!"

It freaked out everyone. Mamori's hands were shaking, Ojo's coach Shoji Gunpei, also known as the Shogun had his jaw hanging down wide open and the Shinryuuji Nagas were staring in disbelief.

"And the 10!!"

"No one could have expected what's just happened…in the opening minute of the game, the first to score is…" the news crew was speechless themselves, but thanks to their job, they managed to record down that the first to score was:

**The Deimon Devil Bats!!**

Sena raced over the touchdown goal line, feeling the adrenaline coursing through her veins. "Touchdown!!"

Everyone was stunned at the outcome. Instead of Ojo like expected, the first team to gain a touch down was the Deimon Devil Bats. Against the team that had focused almost a hundred percent on defense. The legendary Ojo White Knights era of the Golden Generation had vanished. They were no longer the defensive powerhouses that they once were.

The Deimon Devil Bats erupted into loud cheers. Each whacked Sena lightly on the shoulder, shouting out yells of joy at having scored against Ojo.

"Amazing! All by himself, this guy did what we couldn't do! Awesome!"

"…" Sena couldn't describe in words the feelings that were rushing through her now.

_Oh yeah, I better change my voice so they won't know who I am. Got to sound like a Notre Dame Hero…_ Sena started off with a super low voice that had her team wincing and thinking she was scary.

_I may have over done it on that one._

Sena let out a cough and spoke, speaking in what would be her male voice. "No, that touchdown was due to everyone's strength. If it weren't for all of your blocking, I wouldn't have made it all the way." _Is that a good voice for Notre Dame?_ Sena was silently fretting if she managed to do it right.

Judging by the comments of "even his voice sounds so cool" she guessed so.

"Did Sena just fucking…?" Agon trailed off, speechless for the first time in his life as he watched her through the binoculars, still in shock at what just happened. The little girl that he protected for so long just about took on a good amount of Ojo's best defense players and won.

"She's growing up." Ikkyu leaned forward with his own binoculars in hand, jumping around in his seat from his excitement.

"She is, but I'm worried. Now that she's shown that she can compete, they might bring out Shin." Unsui brought the voice of reason back as he grabbed the binoculars from Agon and used it to switch between Shin and Sena for a moment.

"Ah well, that number 93 was off." That caught the attention of Unsui and Ikkyu as they began paying attention to Agon.

"Number 93? The lightweight who was playing in the middle instead of Shin?"

"The blocking in the last play was like this, right?" Agon began drawing on the seats to the stress of Unsui.

"Don't draw on the seats," Unsui muttered.

_"Number 93 had a late start. Kurita can just home him off with his usual power. But if it were Shin…" No more needed to be said._

Unsui folded his arms, frowning. "He rushed right through the spot where Shin would have been. He avoided the middle that Otawara was covering and went down the outside. That was good thinking."

"Ha! Not even! That was pure chance! Deimon got a lucky punch." Agon seized the binoculars once more, turning to look at Hiruma. "The Devil Bats are lightweights – they don't have those kinds of smarts! Why Sena's with 'em, I'd like to find out."

"All right, huddle up! We're going for the extra-point conversion!"

_Extra-point conversion? Wasn't it when we try to get two points using the method of a touchdown instead of kicking_? Sena wondered.

"Let's ask Eyeshield 21 – He'll know."

"Excuse me, what's an extra-point conversion?"

Sena pondered on it, and what seemed to be a memory bank showed up in her mind. There in her mind, an imaginary mini-Sena ran through many books before catching sight of a ghost like thing. "Hey, there's someone. I'll ask him!" Running up to him, Sena asked, "Do you know what an extra-point conversion is?"

Somehow, the voice of Hiruma came up, which effectively managed to scare Sena witless. "You don't know the rules yet? You damn squirt!!" Sena couldn't help but let out a scream as the devil bat began shooting what looked to be lasers of coins out of its eye. "Well, when you score a touchdown, you get six points."

"But there's also a chance to score bonus points! That's the extra point or points after touchdown. YA-HA!" A slot machine popped into place out of nowhere, which showed many positions and people. "You get one chance to make the attempt from the opponent's third yard line."

The devil bat added in coins and pulled the lever down. "If the kick is good, you get one extra point!" The slots ended where three pictures of a kicker kicking a ball through the goal post. Several coins came out, and the devil bat only added it back in and pulled the lever again. "If you make it to the end zone, then you'll get two extra points!" Like last time, three pictures of the exact kind came up; the only difference was that they showed someone scoring a touchdown instead of a kicker kicking the ball.

"You can go for whichever you'd like!" Sena let out a terrified squeak as it came right by her face. "GOT IT, DAMN SHRIMP!?"

"So that's what it is!" All throughout her little memory thing, she had been telling her teammates of the extra point and points. _I've got quite an imagination._

The Deimon Devil Bats got into another huddle. "All right, we're going to kick for the extra point. Since none of you can kick, I'll do it. I can kick the hell out of it but it won't go in the goal posts." Hiruma suddenly smirked and grabbed something from Mamori.

"So then here's what we'll do, Eyeshield 21!!" Hiruma's eyes glinted; he was going to enjoy doing this.

_Take the ball and…_The plan flashed into Sena's mind as she positioned herself to catch the ball and get into position. Kurita snapped the ball and Sena caught it, though with difficulty. Placing it down, just as Hiruma was about to kick it, Sena rushed off with the ball, going down the side of the field again.

"**It's a fake! They're running!"**

_I don't need to run away, I've got shields!_ However, to avoid being crushed as Otawara shot through the middle charged after Sena, she was forced to run to the sidelines to avoid getting squashed.

_Hiiieeee!_ _I need to run away!_

"Aw, out of bounds." Kurita was a bit disappointed, but knew it was for the best. He didn't want Sena to be squished into a Sena pancake by Ojo's tough line.

"Well, can't help what happened, but at least the fake worked. It might have been too much for our inexperienced guys to push our way into the end zone." Hiruma apparently wasn't bothered in the slightest that they didn't make the two-point conversion. He expected as much.

_He really does just kick the hell out of it._ They couldn't help but remember the incident at the Koigahama game where Hiruma kicked the ball and the out of control football landed someone in the hospital for a concussion.

"We need a kicker," Kurita sighed.

Hiruma twitched, knowing who they were both remembering. "Stop your griping!"

Now came the long awaited time of the switch. Deimon was now on the defense, while Ojo was beginning their offense.

Deimon got into a huddle as Ojo organized themselves and with all the screeching most of the crowd was making- it was obvious Sakuraba would now be playing.

"Okay, listen up. There's no way our amateur defense can stop the White Knights. We can't completely stop their running and passing. So then what we'll do…" Hiruma began to tell their his plan, an unholy grin slowly forming on his lips.

There was a moment of dead silence, then…

"What?!" The team exclaimed, shocked at what Hiruma was telling them to do.

"But that's insane!"

"And that's fine." Hiruma found no faults in doing his plan. To him, it was better than rushing in blindly. **"Football is not a game of chance…you've got to strategize to get a lucky punch in!"**

* * *

I hope that you all enjoyed this; I think it'll be maybe about two or more weeks before the next update happens. I'm not sure if I'm going to do the next installment in the series, or finish up the meeting niisan fillers.

As pairings, I decided focusing mostly on Shin and Riku with the occasional mix of other players. I can't help but find those two the best for Sena. Hopefully, when they get to interact with each other, none of them drift out of their character too much.


	8. How They Met: Third Niisan

**Goal**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Sena or anything that deals with Eyeshield 21. I do, however, own all these filler chapter thoughts.

**Author's Note**: Wow, it's been a long time, hasn't it? I'm really sorry that I haven't been writing or updating. High school's super hard, especially with being a freshman. I'm pretty sure I'm close to failing a few of my classes. On the better note, I'm using this weekend to write as much as I can before I go back to school. So hopefully this isn't the only update in the next few weeks!

Updates will be slow from now on, however, but I'll try hard to write as much as I can.

Thank you, Shin-chan, for once again beta-ing for me!

* * *

"Oi, Sena-chan, why don't you go and get us some food and drinks? We're awfully thirsty." A bunch of teenagers as young as twelve to the age of fourteen all looked down at the much tinier Sena, smirking at her. Boys and girls alike, they gave Sena no apparent other choice. They dragged her off into the courtyard by the banyan tree, acting as if they were good friends. Sena couldn't help but feel more intimidated as everything seemed to tower over her.

_Why do they still come after me and use me as a gopher_? Sena thought despairingly. She dashed off to the cafeteria with the money they entrusted her with to buy them water bottles at the vending machines her school had. Sena glanced back, barely glimpsing them grabbing her lunch and devouring it. _This isn't fair!  
_

Sena, however, knew that despite all the treatment that she received, no one would probably believe that at least five students were picking on her, much less the _popular _ones that were _good_ students. After all, these students all had fantastic marks, were well behaved in front of teachers and had good backgrounds. They never left any evidence to be counted against them, and Sena never truly bothered to report any of them, especially if she took into account that sometimes, the teachers just didn't care. Mihae had gotten on her case once before to report them, but backed off by Sena's insistence. Sena heaved a sigh, gave a groan, and picked up her level of speed. She zoomed off to get what she needed to do, alone.

_Why can't the weekend come any faster? That way I'll be able to see Ikkyu-niisan.__  
_

It took Sena a while before she got all she needed, approximately fifteen minutes. How she hated being a gopher! She headed back towards the group. _But it's also my fault_. Sena realized. _I never do stand up for myself._ She weaved through the crowd before arriving back to the area that the group of bullies was waiting for her.

"Here," muttered Sena. She watched as they took the bottles from her, all the while resisting the urge to frown. Sena steeled herself up as best as she could and not utter a single sound. If she could rationale things, Sena knew that she was much safer doing the bidding of others. Sena knew she wasn't strong and that she was easily crushable - all she had was her speed. Even if she could outrun them, they'd come back with a vengeance and terrorize her in class and gang up on her outside of school. There was no point in running if there was nowhere to run to.

One of the girls who had a so-called nice smile and a pretty laugh pushed Sena roughly.

"Thanks a bunch for getting us our stuff!" She giggled.

The force of the push sent Sena falling to the ground. Squeaking in surprise, all she could do was throw her hands backwards, to stop her head from smacking against the cement only to scrape the skin off her palms. The group walked away all the while laughing, leaving a teary-eyed Sena on the ground.

Sena could feel stray tears trailing down from her eyes as her hands throbbed with pain. Sniffling, she went to the nearest girl's bathroom to wash her hands and face. The scraps weren't as bad as it could be, so Sena didn't worry. The young girl tried her best to keep her mind blank as she washed her hands as best as she could. She winced as the water ran down onto her scraps. Even if it wasn't all that bad, the scraps still hurt. At the very least, they weren't all that visible. Sena sucked in a breath as she finished watching her hands and started on her face. She knew the bell was going to ring soon and hurried. _Thankfully, the next class period marks the end of school_, Sena thought dryly as she headed to her classroom as she heard the bell ring.

"Why does this keep happening to me?" It wasn't as if Sena went out of her way to antagonize anyone. In fact, more often than not, Sena went out of her way to get out of _their_ way in fear of getting hurt.

A light jog around the park, which was close to her home, was something Sena knew she needed. Convincing her mother to let her go was challenging, but she pulled through in the end. It was a beautiful day anyway. The leaves were bright and green and the wild animals that lived in the parks were lively. It was nearing the beginning of summer.

Sena enjoyed the breezes as she ran through the park. The wind made her fair fly all around, sometimes even whipping her when she ran as fast as she could. Ikkyu had been shocked to see such an amazing speed coming from her, especially when he learned she used it to be a gopher. However, she proudly told him how it all began, and how and why she continued to train. Just with those thoughts, a smile broke out on her cute face. She needed to keep up with the positive attitude if she wanted to stay sane. It was just looking for to the things she enjoyed that kept her happy. "Easy to please," were Ikkyu's words to describe her personality.

Sena ran faster, trying to make the wind go by and make it seems as if she could fly instead of it being only running. Unfortunately, because of that, Sena ran straight into someone, unable to stop herself. Even worse because she ran as fast as she could, momentum had been on her side and Sena slammed straight into the person, which sent the two of them flying. The swift girl landed on top and the person on the bottom with the person grabbing onto her protectively in reflex

Sena's face looked like it caught on fire with how much she was blushing. She quickly jumped up and bowed repeatedly in apology. _I can't believe I wasn't watching where I was going_, Sena yelled at herself in her mind. She felt so embarrassed by her action.

"Sena-chan?" The familiar voice made Sena straighten in reflex and flinch at the two figures standing there in front of her. The sight of two tall and somewhat muscular boys towering over her intimidated her. If it weren't for the fact that she recognized one, she would've bolted.

"Unsui-san!"

"Never knew you had it in you, Unko-chan." The mocking tone of the person next to Unsui had Sena freezing up. She resisted the urge to frown at the nickname that person gave Unsui. It was inappropriate and terribly rude.

Unsui placed a hand on her shoulder as an effort to make her relax. He had seen her freeze and was hoping that his familiar presence would give her a sense of calmness. After their first initial meeting, they had met up a few more times after that and quickly became friends. He, like Ikkyu, felt the need to protect the frailer girl.

His gaze flickered between Agon and Sena. He had dreaded the day that the two would meet, but he knew it was inevitable with the times that Ikkyu dragged him over to his house to play with both he and Sena. The only relief he felt at that moment was that he was there to stop any unnecessary 'happenings' as Agon called them.

Sena gave an uneasy smile towards Agon, leaning in slightly towards Unsui. It confounded her that the boys looked almost exactly alike aside from the hair and skin tone. A memory arose, back to the time she first met Unsui, and she remembered the fact that he had a younger twin brother.

She could feel a thick tension in the air as Agon eyed her up and down. She gave a slight shiver as she caught his eyes and averted her gaze to a spot just above his head. Unsui pulled her behind him, a frown tugging at his lips.

"If you recall, Sena-chan here is Ikkyu's proclaimed, 'Imoto-chan!' He'll go ballistic if you try anything and we both know how he can get. I, for one, don't want to deal with him, his parents, and hers."

Agon let out a snort. "As if he's a threat." He blatantly ignored Unsui's mention of the adults. Agon stuffed his hands in his pocket. "So why're you protective of her, _dear brother_?" drawled Agon, his black eyes flashing maliciously.

Unsui's grip tightened to where his grip on Sena became nearly painful. Sena looked back and forth between the twins, bewildered. She never gotten into such a tense situation like this with Mamori or Ikkyu. Sena shuddered as she peeked at Agon. He really looked scary to her. The aura around him wasn't pleasant. In her opinion, he wasn't anything like Unsui at all. Even with that revelation, it didn't cease her fright of the younger twin. In fact, it served to heighten her fear. Sena tried not to fidget as Agon glared at the two of them.

Agon let out a scoff, turning away from them. "I've seen way damn better. I'm leaving. I, unlike you, Unko-chan, have a date tonight." With those parting words, Agon walked down the path that led to the park's exit.

"I'm sorry about that, Sena-chan," Unsui apologized as he let go of Sena.

Sena let out a small nervous laugh as they moved a bit so they were face-to-face. "It's no problem, Unsui-san. He's…uh…very different."

Unsui's lips pulled back into a firm line with a weary expression taking place, looking much older than the mid-teen he is. "That's the way Agon has always been. He's not as bad as he makes it seem." Despite the treatment that Agon displayed, Unsui's heart told him that Agon was truly a good person under his ego. If it weren't for the God Speed Impulse, Unsui could clearly see Agon with a 180 degree turn from his current attitude. At least, that was what he told himself.

Sena slowly understood Unsui's meaning. It was hard having a sibling who acted as if he was king of the world, but there's always a small part in you that still loves him. It was just more apparent because they were twins. Sometimes Ikkyu could get a bit annoying, but she liked that about him. She didn't have a sibling and neither did he, making it much easier for the two to identify each other with. She could see Unsui cared for Agon. It was the matter of if Agon knew that himself….or even cared about Unsui in return.

Unsui shook himself out of his semi-pessimistic attitude. "How about I get you home?"

"Yeah…let's go."

* * *

Somehow I can't help but think I made Sena OOC, which is weird.

I know this wasn't what some of you might've been expecting as a first meeting with Agon, but I think it'll take a while before he'll warm up to her. And since Sena only met Unsui a few times and with Unsui's somewhat distant attitude, I don't think he's close to being a nii-san just yet. With the Kongo twins, it'll take a while to warm up. And that reminds me of the fact that I'm wanting to start a mini-series of adventures Sena has with the Kongo twins and Ikkyu before the Eyeshield 21 canon start.

Thank you, all of you, for being so patient with me. And I have a poll on my profile that I would love if some of you would kindly take.


	9. Before the Storm

**_Goal_**

Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21 or any of its characters.

Author's Note: This hardly has anything beyond what the manga and anime has and this one is quite short. I have an AN at the bottom, please read it as it's an important announcement.

* * *

_"The football sandwich value meal…now specially priced at only 380 yen!" Sakuraba held a plate of food sailing on a football looking sandwich. He paused for a moment and placed down the plate on another incoming football sandwich all the while keeping the football sandwich that was already on his plate. Sakuraba winked and spoke, "It's a touchdown…for your taste buds!"_

**_American Burger_**

"And we're back from commercial." The news crew seemed excited that they were finally able to get directly on air, especially as they were covering Sakuraba Haruto.

"Thank you for joining us! Sakuraba Haruto is about to make an appearance!" At that announcement, a gigantic roar erupted from the bleachers where all the girls sat at. Screams, squeals, and shouting of Sakuraba's name came from those girls. "SAKURABA!"

Sakuraba waved with sweat dripping down his brow at the excitement of his fanclub, which only served to make the girls scream even louder.

"Hurts my ears…" One of the Shinryuuji tried massaging his ears to stop the ringing the fangirls were causing.

"Hey, hey! Since when did the Jari Productions guy become an ace?" Agon leaned back against the bleacher's back bars, not looking the least bit disturbed at the noise. He smirked as he looked down and saw the referees trying to quiet down the crowd.

"I don't know how we're going to quiet them down."

TWEET. "Attention please!" TWEET. The head referee crossed his wrists over each other and blew his whistle hard in an attempt to quiet down the crowd, or more specifically, the fangirls. It took them nearly five minutes until the crowd got down to a minimal level of noise that they were now able to continue. It wouldn't do good if the ball was in play and the players couldn't hear the whistle, it'd turn out to be an unfair game all the way through.

Sena watched as Ojo's players switched from defense to offense. "All of the White Knights are different from before."

"Right." Kurita took off his helmet for a breath of fresh air. "Offensive and defensive players usually switch off."

"Huh? But our team doesn't do that…and I don't really see Kongo-niisans and Ikkyu-niisan doing that either…" Sena craned her neck to stare at Kurita, a confused look making its way on her face.

"That's cause they're a bunch of bastards that have a load of fucking stamina. And we don't have enough players, dammit!" Hiruma glared at Sena causing her to shrink back a little from the intimidation she couldn't help but feel, especially after knowing his conniving ways. Hiruma lightened his glare and turned away to stare at the Ojo White Knights, Sena following his gaze.

She spotted Otawara at the end of it. "They only have one player who does both."

"Otawara's playing offense and defense?" Agon peeked through his binoculars at the lineman that nearly squished his little sister.

"Of course. As far as power and bulk, he's the only one who can compete with Kurita." Unsui crossed his arms and looked down at Sena anxiously. He's happy that she's enjoying American football, but the fact still remained, _her body isn't made for this type of sport._

"He better only pay attention to that fat ass." Agon growled, eyes flashing.

It was as if Kami-sama heard him as the Shinryuuji Nagas watched Otawara's advancement towards Kurita. "Kurita!" Otawara strolled towards Kurita, snatching the down poll and sign from one of the referees. Reaching Kurita, Otawara gave a war cry, bent the steel pole, and threw it down near Sena, who became frightened. At the sight of where Otawara threw the pole, Kurita frowned and picked it up, blocking Sena from view. "Hah." Otawara seemed smug as Kurita checked over the condition of the poll. With relatively ease, Kurita used his strength to straighten the poll and handed it back to the referee.

After the initial shock wore off from Sena, she couldn't help but think, _That was weird._ Hiruma dragged her into a newer position as the next play was about to begin, but she couldn't help looking around again, seeing her niisans and neechan before the newscaster caught her attention.

"At last, Haruto Sakuraba's first play of the year. I wonder what kind of amazing catch we might see!"

"Where should I be looking? Who throws the ball?" asked the female reporter.

The male one let out a sigh. "The quarterback! The one in the middle there gets the ball first." He stopped to point and show her Ojo's quarterback. "Takami Ichiro…He's a quarterback who sticks to the basics and hardly ever makes a mistake. He utilizes his height to throw precise passes."

Hearing the words, "Set" come from Takami forced Sena to concentrate on the play ahead. This next play was important as it would be the start of Ojo's first offense and Sena needed to play with full concentration. A nervous tingling sensation swept through Sena as she got ready in her new position.

Looking at Deimon's positions, one of the Deimon Devil Bat's reserves said, "Anezaki-san, Ojo's offensive formation is kind of different from ours, right?"

Another of their teammates appeared on the other side of Mamori. "Anezaki-san, what about our defensive formation?"

Mamori sweat dropped at the attempted flirting display those two openly showed. "Uh…Yeah." She fished out a handbook and pointed to a scatter formation. "This is our usual formation." She pointed at another picture. "But it changes depending on the situation. For example, right in front of the goal line, they're likely to rush." Turning the page, she continued, "We would cover a rush with a strong goal line defense." The Scrunch formation. Mamori finished it off. "But we wouldn't or shouldn't use this formation away from the goal line. There's no one back here to prevent passes, see?"

"Uh, but," spoke another, pointing towards the field.

Takami, quarterback of the Ojo White Knights, was in the same stupor of surprise. "What…Are they?"

Ikkyu looked down with a nonchalant expression. "No doubt, oni, too much power difference. They can only try to stop the runs."

"Idiots." Agon let out a yawn. "The Knights will just go with the passing game, won't they?"

Unsui frowned, unable to shake the feeling that something was off. "Don't forget that this is Hiruma who we're talking about."

Over the announcement was the shout of, "For some reason, they're in a Goal line defense formation?!"

Hiruma could be seen grinning showing his canine sharp teeth, Sena tense and a bit stiff, and Kurita focused and determined. Mamori broke out in cold sweat as she held the video camera aimed at the Devil Bats trying not to shake.

Takami seemed to gain an understanding of Hiruma's motive. "I get it…They're focusing their defense on the runs. Kurita's going to try to get me before I can throw a pass."

That caught Otawara's attention. "Huh?" A look of a one-track minded determination played itself on his face. "THAT'S…NOT…GONNA HAPPEN!"

"HUT!" The ball was snapped and the play began. Kurita and Otawara clashed neither backing down - giving it their all.

Sakuraba saw his chance as did Takami. Takami threw a pass to the tall wide receiver who caught it with difficulty. Sakuraba went down completing a ten-yard gain. Whistles blew as the play ended.

Girls screeching along with cheers erupted from the stands. The Shinryuuji Nagas, however, were a different story.

"What was that? He caught the pass – couldn't he have run with it?" Agon stretched his arms, staring down at Sakuraba before turning his attention to the girls jumping up and screaming Sakuraba's name.

Unsui's face, on the other hand, was bunched up in incredulous disbelief. "He could've gone twenty yards."

"Why'd he just go down?!" cried Ikkyu, jumping out of his seat angrily. "That was a joke!" Unsui had to forcibly grab a hold of Ikkyu and yank him back down to his seat before he made a spectacle of himself, especially around rabid Sakuraba fangirls.

Agon scoffed as he heard girls continue to scream about an, "Ace Sakuraba".

"It was a good enough pass…If it were me, I'd kill him. Ace Sakuraba my ass."

"I taught Sena-chan to catch better and she's a running back," grumbled Ikkyu. "She can catch better than that third-rate receiver. He has no technique and could risk fumbles!"

"Calm down Ikkyu." Unsui felt himself starting to become irritated. It was hard dealing with the two of them at the same time. "The media and the fans put him up on a pedestal as an ace…It's hardest on him because he knows he's not an ace."

They watched as the next play happened. And the one after that, and the one after that, until the Knights were twelve yards to the goal line. They didn't know what Hiruma was planning as each play had Hiruma and Sena just rushing, but by the look on his face, they knew something was up.

"Now, at last, we're about to see a touchdown!"

"Set!"

Sena felt nervous as she watched Takami give out his "huts". Hiruma's plans swirled in her mind, waiting for its chance to take action. She knew if she screwed this up, she'd probably be ashamed to look at her niisans again, much less her own teammates. The simple thing she had to do now was put Sakuraba under pressure. _He's not as good as Ikkyu-niisan_, was the only comfort she had but enough to keep her moving forward.

The ball was snapped. By the time Sena could locate where Sakuraba was, the pass was thrown. She watched the direction of the ball and saw Sakuraba. Zooming towards it, Sena caught Sakuraba's eyes turning to look at her for a brief moment.

It was like a moment flashed by as Sena recalled her short practice she had at Deimon a few days ago.

Sena tossed the football into the air using all of her force. Without a second to lose, Sena dashed off to where she could clearly see the ball landing. _Ikkyu-niisan said to put my thumbs together for an overhead ball._ She did as she remembered Ikkyu showing her and amazingly, she caught the incoming aerial ball. Her happiness was short lived as Sakuraba in a desperate attempt managed to knock the ball out of her hands. Sena's expression behind her eyeshield screamed horror as she watched the ball fall to the ground until a pair of hands snatched the ball still in the air. The grinning face of a maniacal blond devil greeted her.

"Good work, shrimp." Hiruma held onto the ball as if it were his lifeline. "YA-HA!" Rang through the air as Hiruma stormed down the field.

Sena had quickly stood back up from her position on top of Sakuraba. They had hit the ground with Sakuraba bearing most of the impact. Sena quickly went after Hiruma leaving Sakuraba slightly dazed.

In that instant when Hiruma turned around, Sena saw it as her turn to grab a hold of the ball again. Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she raced down the field hearing the cheers of Deimon. Sena nearly jumped as she felt a force slam against her back pushing her to the sidelines. She panted as she finish sliding on the ground and stood up to see her position. It was a short shock and surprise to see that she managed to get as far as thirteen yards till touchdown!

"AMAZING!!!"

"SO CLOSE TO A TOUCHDOWN!!"

The crowd was screaming in excitement. It was unusual for Ojo to face such an intense match from a school who was known not to do all that well in the sport of Amefuto.

The players went into formation as the plan began to set. "HUT!" The ball was snapped and Sena rushed forward and bypassed Hiruma, pretending to grab the football. She swerved to the right and ran straight on, giving the illusion of having the ball. Sena nearly panicked as Otawara came charging at her, who lead to a tilt of her head and gave Otawara the opportunity to see that she was without the ball and caused him to stop his pursuit of her.

Hiruma, meanwhile, pretty much tiptoed to the point of gaining five yards. His eyes wide and full of sadistic mirth and his lips parted showing his sharp teeth. Now all Deimon needed were eight more yards and they'd score a touchdown!

"Maybe…" Sena thought aloud, "maybe we can do it."

The Ojo White Knights, on the other hand, weren't looking too bright. Shogun had a deep frown upon his face and his gaze flashed to where Shinryuuji were sitting. "Shin," he spoke suddenly gaining the boy sitting at the bench his attention.

"Yes."

"Go put a stop to this."

"Yes." Shin rose off the bench and started forward.

Kurita started shaking and muttering, "Ow" one after another. His hands clutched onto the front of his helmet where behind the front of a helmet, one could clearly see Kurita's frightened expression.

"Heh!" Hiruma looked more serious than usual, a dark look appearing on his face for a brief second. "He's coming out this early in the game?"

Sena gave a start as she stared at the football player that has everyone on edge, even when Sena took a peek at her niisans. They, too, looked uncomfortably serious as Shin headed onto the field.

The male news reporter broke out into cold sweat. "I just remembered something," he said, "I'm the personnel in charge of the X League. But the coaches were alway saying:

'There's someone incredible in the football world. Every team would do anything to get him after he graduates.'" The reporter paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "That's right...The strongest Linebacker in all of Japan, Shin Seijuro."

* * *

It looks like Shin's going to enter the game. I hope to make this next chapter as realistic as possible especially as Sena is extremely physically weak. Ikkyu and the Kongo Twins only gave her technique training. Now for the important announcement.

I know that I take forever to update, but I was wondering. Would you rather I update faster but with shorter chapters or update like normal with longer chapters? It's important, so please review or PM, I just need to know.

Quite frankly, I lost some of my books and have taken to using onemanga. School starts next month and I have doctor's appointments, school things, and a dentist appointment this month. If anyone also knows where I can watch ES21 anime, please tell me. XD

Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed.


	10. Don't Give Up

_**Goal**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21 or any of its characters.

Author's Note: Kind of differs. It's still quite short. Important A/N at the bottom. I hope you all enjoy.

Thank you so much, Shinnie The Meanie for beta-ing! You're awesome~

* * *

"Shin's coming in!" one of the Shinryuuji players shouted.

Agon swiped the binoculars from Unsui, and placed his foot upon the person in front of him, kicking him off the seat with a sneer.

"Outta the way, ugly." He looked through the binoculars taking a quick scan at Shin, but moved his gaze to Sena.

Sena watched Shin, an apprehensive feeling rising in her gut. This was the man who was said to be the fastest out of all the high schools in Japan - the one that even her brothers were wary of.

A swift kick to her back by Hiruma jolted her out of her musings and sent her flying about a yard away to where Shin was. "Hey there – so your rival makes his appearance. Go give him something to get riled up about!" She looked up and nearly fainted at Shin staring down at her.

Sena kept her head down, content on facing his chest rather than look at him straight in the eye. If she had still been looking up, she'd have seen a flash of confusion past Shin's face before he turned around to walk back to his team.

"Damn, Coward!" Hiruma shouted, pointing straight at Sena, who yelped and rushed back to the team.

Sena breathed out a sigh and smiled as good-natured Kurita spoke, "Th-that's all right, don't provoke him." It at least cleared up that Hiruma wasn't talking about her and just trying to rile up Shin.

"Doesn't take much effort to talk." Hiruma scoffed, giving a sidewards glance to Kurita. Sena could've sworn she saw gears working in his head. "It'll be to our advantage if we shake him up, even a little bit."

With a grin, Hiruma yelled, "We're gonna pass, you hear? Pass! We're going for a long pass!"

Sena shook her head in disbelief. _Nobody's that stupid to be fooled by that_.

"What? They're passing?!" She hung her head when Otawara took the bait.

Hiruma grabbed onto her jersey and pulled her along. "Hurry up." Sena didn't bother trying to pull away and simply allowed him to drag her towards the team for some small time planning.

Everyone got ready for the next play. It was the Deimon Devil Bats Second down. A loud, "SET" from Hiruma sounded. Sena tensed, as she knew exactly what she needed to do. There was simply no way for them to pass and Hiruma did say to go against her rival. Yet, she couldn't help feel intimidated as she could see that the Ojo White Knights were different now that Shin was put in play.

"Everyone looks different now…" commented Unsui, a frown pulling at his lips. He was looking through the binoculars, but Agon held out his hand for it.

"They're back to the usual White Knights, that's all. Now the outcome of the game has been decided." Agon looked through the binocular to stare at Shin, a feeling of worry stirring in his mind when he thought of Sena. "He'll be using the spear tackle now." Unsui grabbed the binocular back and turned to watch.

"Sena's gonna be all right, isn't she?" Ikkyu fidgeted in his seat. There was simply no way he could keep still. His eyes darted back and forth between Sena and Shin. It was then that Ikkyu was pretty thankful for being an ace when it came to aerial battles, it definitely helped his eyesight.

The Kongo twins froze. That, was a question they couldn't answer.

"HUT!" And the play began.

Kurita snapped the ball to Hiruma who easily caught it. Sena, seeing her cue, rushed towards him, took the ball, and ran to the right side, Ishimaru right in front of her. Sena's eyes scanned and she could see the middle opening. With a twist and a cut, she swerved to go down the middle opening, which Hiruma and Kurita created for her.

"He switched directions!"

"He's breaking through the middle!"

"Get back there!"

Kurita shoved off the opposing linemen and they ran forward. "_All right, I've still got my Kuri-shield…I can make it._ Sena zoomed off, rushing towards the end zone and nearly halted due to Shin suddenly appearing before her. Sena immediately gave several sidesteps in an attempt to give an illusion of more than one. Thanks to that, she managed to get past him, but her victory was shortened. Shin caught her and squeezed, dragging her down to a harsh falling on the ground in his spear tackle.

Sena barely stopped herself from screaming out in pain. Tears escaped her eyes as the pain felt like hot lightening surging through her. Sena was barely aware of the cheering and the yells. The only thing she felt that was real was the pain that didn't seem to be lessening anytime soon and her thoughts that seem faded in her own mind.

_I've always been running away from pain. I'd avoid doing anything remotely dangerous. And I became people's gopher so they wouldn't beat me up until they stopped bullying me_. Sena moved her hand to clutch at her ribs. _Now I remember…this is what pain feels like_!

The binocular in Unsui's hand snapped soundly, his hands shaking as he took in the scene. He didn't know what to think.

"Why isn't Sena getting up?" Ikkyu panicked, unknowingly mirroring the thoughts and emotions swirling in the Kongo twins mind. Some of the Shinryuuji members had to grab onto him to keep him from charging to the field.

Yet, no one wanted to get close to Agon, except for his brother who placed a hand on his shoulder. There was so much bloodlust radiating off him that people scrambled to get away. No woman's scorn could ever measure up to the fury in his eyes as he was forced to watch his little sister be tackled and not rise from that tackle. She was faster than Shin - he knew she was faster.

Hiruma silently squatted down next to Sena, helped her up slowly, and led her to where the team was huddled; an unreadable expression dawning his face.

Shin watched Sena. He, too, was wearing an unreadable expression. "Otawara…" Shin paused for a moment, not quite sure how to go on before deciding. "Look at his thin arms…that's not an athlete's body." His eyes strayed from the Devil Bats to glance at Otawara. "I have a theory…"

The Deimon Devil Bats huddled closer, Hiruma still keeping an arm around Sena holding her upright, ignoring the looks his players were throwing him. "With Shin in the game, it doesn't look like we'll be able to penetrate the middle. All we can do is outrun them by going around to the right."

Sena took a deep breath at that and Hiruma squeezed her slightly tighter in response. She unconsciously tuned out the conversation, losing herself to her thoughts. Sena was truly frightened at the prospect of facing Shin once more. She didn't want to go through all that pain again. She could feel herself getting over it now, but what if he tackled her again and he really broke her ribs? They're probably all ready bruised! She broke out of her reverie at the sound of Hiruma's yelling. He gave her a pointed look and she knew that she was to go with the original plan. Go through the right.

Everyone left the huddle to get into position again.

"SET!"

"HUT!"

Once more, at the first hut, Kurita snapped the ball to Hiruma who quickly tossed it to Sena. She caught it and sped down as fast as she could. It wasn't even a second later that Shin began going after her and in fright, she sped faster to get away. However, it was no use as Shin used his reach to snatch Sena across her stomach and lift her up. Everyone paused for a moment before Sena began flailing. _Huh? I-I didn't get tackled! Shin is holding me up! Ack! We're still in play. I wasn't tackled._ Otawara quickly came and stole the ball before Shin dropped her and rushed towards the other side with the ball. Sena tried to race after Shin, but between her injuries and Shin's speed, she couldn't keep up.

_He…definitely keeps his title. He__ really is the fastest linebacker in history._

"TOUCHDOWN!"

The Ojo White Knights scored their kick in, bringing the points to 7-6, Ojo in the lead. "And just like that, the White Knights have come back!"

"B-but it's still a one-point game!" Kurita tried to be optimistic, but both he and Hiruma knew that it wasn't like that at all.

"Our only chance of winning…was based on whether that damn pipsqueak could beat Shin. Things are getting tough."

However, from there, the Ojo White Knights really did come back. Ojo kept scoring one after another by stealing the ball from Sena or causing interceptions. The White Knights made their comeback. 35-6.

Sena rubbed her side, Shin once again having tackled her viciously. She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to continue anymore. The pain was too much. _Maybe Mamori was right…Maybe… _The halftime sound rang and Sena rushed off before anyone could grab a hold of her. She didn't know where she was going, all she knew is that she needed to get away. Now.

Sena passed by an alleyway, only to be pulled in and have her helmet ripped off her head. She tried to scream, but a hand covered her mouth and a familiar voice spoke, "It's only us, Sena." Sena relaxed and she was let go.

"Sena!" Ikkyu nearly flung his arms around her if it wasn't for Agon grabbing a hold of the back of his shirt and flinging him back. Sena knew something was wrong with them for not attaching a 'chan' to her name. They've always just said her name when something was wrong.

"Are you all right?" Unsui placed a large hand over her ribcage area and gave a push, watching Sena's face contort into pain. She gave a slight whimper, that had hurt.

Agon, as silent as Hiruma had been, began taking off the gear beneath her jersey, ignoring the sputtering of the other three. Memories flashed through his mind. That one time Unsui and he had been out in the Tokyo area where they saw Sena knocked around by a couple of kids. How one went as far as to punch her in the gut and shove her down roughly. They yelling at her for the mere fact that she refused to carry all their bags (he clearly remembered five large bags) to the arcade. Even if she had her speed, even if she could've gotten away, she stayed and proved to them that she wasn't going to run away anymore, that she wasn't going to hide. Then he remembered Shin's spear tackles. They crushed at Sena and it became apparent on how it became harder each time for her to get back up. He knew how much of a bitch they were to deal even with his naturally athletic body of a genius - for someone as small and frail as Sena? For the first time in his life, he felt useless and there was no way in hell that he ever wanted to experience that feeling again.

"I-I ca-can do it myself!" Sena sprung away from him, cheeks a fiery red as was her ears. Agon simply stared at her as Ikkyu and Unsui gawked. Taking the cue, Sena hurriedly took off her gear and gave a sigh once it was off. _If it weren't for the protective gear, I'm sure I'd have some broken bones by now…_

Agon whipped out a roll of bandages out of nowhere and began bandaging the area of her ribs. Sena could see nasty purple and blue bruises forming on her skin and winced. All four was silent as Agon continued to bandage her. He finished and stepped back from her.

"Do you think you can still continue, brat?" Agon asked, his voice quiet and serious. It honestly scared the other three. This was not the usual arrogant and brash Agon – this was a completely different side of him that none of them, even Unsui, haven't seen before.

"You don't have to, Sena. You've done great, don't force yourself, oni!" Ikkyu was at her side, carefully holding onto her as if she was made out of glass and that she would break any minute.

Sena didn't know what to say. She didn't want to continue playing at all, but for some reason, she couldn't get that out. When she looked at her niisans, she saw the concern in their eyes – blatant concern. _The same had been with the team_. Her heart hurt at the thought and she unconsciously rubbed at her arms.

Unsui gave a sigh. "C'mon, you can make the decision when you go back to the team." He handed her helmet over and the four of them left in silence after Sena secured that no one would identify her. They reached the Seisen field in less than a minute and Sena scurried off to her side, the three boys staying back and watching her.

As Sena neared, she heard them talking about her so she hid out of sight.

"Huh…? Where's Eyeshield 21?"

A random player frowned and said, "I think I saw him leave the field."

"No way!" Satake and Yamaoka yelled out.

Ishimaru sighed and glanced at the two. "Well, you can't blame him." He looked back down. "Eyeshield has been battling Shin all this time…The least we could do is back him up. We haven't really been giving him much cover."

"We haven't been pulling our own weight."

"Maybe he's angry…Having to play with the likes of us." Random confessions started pouring out and Sena nearly stepped out when Mamori spoke.

"How could he have abandoned us…?"

Sena barely held herself back. Wasn't that what she originally planned? Wasn't that what she was going to do? What right did she have to confront such a statement? Sena took a good look at all the Devil Bats. Each of them were tired and sweaty, even Hiruma and Kurita.

_I see…I'm not alone. Everyone's doing their very best…_ Sena turned and waved at her niisans, now knowing what her choice was going to be. She watched as they smiled or in the case of Agon, smirked before they turned and went back to their seats. Sena stared at their backs and smiled. _That's it. I'm not gonna be the only one who runs away when things get tough. That's enough of that. I've done it before and I can do it again!_

"The second half is about to begin."

With that, Sena went out of hiding and hurried to the others. She watched as smiles appeared and their faces brightened and knew she made a choice she wouldn't regret.

"You're late, dammit!" Hiruma said, if only an automatic response. Sena couldn't keep the apologetic smile that tugged at her lips.

"Sorry."

Sena looked out towards the Ojo White Knights and for a brief moment, her gaze met with Shin's.

_T__here are still twenty minutes left. I think I still have a chance of getting past him_! And Sena wasn't about to go out without trying.

* * *

Sorry for the shortness, but this concludes volume 2.

I think the Shinryuuji boys were a bit OOC? I think that even Agon has his rage as the quiet and creepy sort, and he's not trying to scare Sena to death. Out of all of them, I think he realizes that Sena still needs to have that will to stand up for herself. They won't be able to be with her all the time and he can tell that she honestly likes Amefuto, but is just seriously unlucky to have gone against Shin. Thoughts?

For those of you who have read my profile, thanks a bunch. Writing is only for when I have time and I don't have much time anymore. This is the year where my exams affect my school and I'm trying desperately hard to focus on my academics, especially as I'm striving to become a teacher. I apologize. From now on, all writing will be updated sporadically. But I think, at the very least, that having done this update, I haven't completely given up like I've thought. There's just too many things going on, which have affected me severely. Thank you for all your patience.

(WHOOT! I just realized that I've entered double digits and Goal's over a year old).


	11. Just A Little More

_**Goal**_

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Eyeshield 21.

Author's Note: Well, Happy New Year! I wanted to update for this special start that only comes once a year, so I spent a few hours these past two days writing. It's not beta-ed, so beware of some grammatical things and OOC. I proofread, but I know that I do tend to miss things or things that I haven't learned yet and make mistakes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

* * *

An arm appeared out of nowhere, with strength unnatural for a human… Sena felt it grasp her around her middle and drag her down once more, knocking the breath out of her. Sena let out a gasp as Shin let go and walked away, the pain coming in full blast. She gingerly rubbed her abdomen and winced. She could imagine the deep purple, maybe even blue bruises that were probably there. Sena struggled to get to her feet, arms and legs moving slowly to steady her. The only thing that she could get out was an "ouch".

"ACK…Are you okay?!" Kurita rushed towards her, nearly tripping in the process as he yanked his headgear off. Quieter, he spoke, "Sena…did he snap your back?" His concern could be seen from the way his eyes sparkled in panic, his frantic movements, and his mouth as if he was biting back a wail.

"One thing I've learned…" Sena stood up, but wobbled as she took a step forward. Taking a deep breath, she spoke again, "Shin can tackle you even from a distance…He just sticks out his arm…It is like he's thrusting a spear into you. Or in my case, he jabs, grabs hold, and drags me down." Sena's face scrunched up at the thought. She gave another step forward and bended over some and rested her hands on her knees.

"Uh-huh. With anyone else, you could probably break free. But Shin has enough strength to stop you with one hand, right?"

"While he's reaching out…I've got to turn just a little bit quicker and get a little faster." Sena walked back to the team, nearly falling off to the side before gaining normalcy in walking. "This is kind of tricky…"

Kurita gave her back a blank look before a smile overcame his face and he hurried over to the team.

**WEEET****! ROARRR**! "TOUCHDOWN!!" At that touchdown, it put the score at 49 to 6, Ojo White Knights in the lead.

The roaring of the crowd as the Knights scored their kick caused Sena to frown. It wasn't like she wasn't happy for them, it's just it would be nice to score themselves.

"Only two minutes left in the third quarter. This sucks." Hiruma popped up out of nowhere behind Sena causing her head to swivel towards him in surprise.

"Hiii?! Your vision is that good?!" Sena clutched her chest, trying her best to calm her pounding heart. They must've been at least a good twenty yards from the timekeeper behind the end zone!

"Enough chitchat!" Hiruma grabbed her arm and gave a slight pull towards where the Devil Bats team was gathering. However, the calculating look in his eyes put Sena on guard. She could practically see the gears working in his head.

"Huddle Up!"

The Ojo White Knights and the Deimon Devil Bats took their places on the field to start.

"SET!" Sena gulped, but shook her head. She wanted to do this. She needed to do this. "HUT!"

The ball was snapped and Sena leaned forward and got into her position. She pushed off from the ground, used it as momentum, and grabbed a hold of the football as Hiruma held it out to her. Sena rushed forward, going slightly to the right when her eyes locked with Shin's.

_It's no good if I just dodge to the side_. Sena pursed her lips and surprised everyone by doing a spin and getting pass Shin. Her moment of joy (along with the rest of Deimon) was short lived as Shin's arm darted out like a knight's spear and managed to grab a hold of Sena's jersey and jerked her down, efficiently stopping her and ending the play.

Sena shakily got up. _Just a little more_. Even if it was just once, Sena knew that with everything that's been taught to her and with how hard she continued on training that she could possibly achieve it. She needed just a little more.

"Hey, damn pipsqueak. There's no hope for an interception anymore." Hiruma walked up to her. "Rest up during defense and concentrate on offense!"

"R-Right…" Sena pushed away her fright at Hiruma's sudden appearance as he led her to the bench so she could rest. As Hiruma left her on the bench, Sena's knees shook. She could feel her muscles in her legs tighten and then spasm. Her part of the lower leg jerked about for a few seconds before settling down again. She was still unused to this type of physical activity with her having to dodge, cut, spin, and run as if her life depended on it thanks to Shin. Sena's grip on her knee tightened and she looked up, once more locking gaze with Shin. She broke the gaze as a muscle in her calf had another spasm. She couldn't give out. Not yet.

Sena watched as the next play started with Ojo now in possession of the ball. She could see how hard everyone was working to stop them from scoring, especially Hiruma and Kurita. Even with them successfully breaking through Ojo's linemen and getting to Takami in Ojo's second down, Takami still managed to throw the football to one of his receivers, which resulted in another touchdown for Ojo.

_Ah, time for our offense_. Sena got up from the bench feeling much better now that she's had some rest.

Hiruma came storming back and swiped the stopwatch out of Mamori's hands, ignoring her indignant squawks. His face twisted into a grimace and he pulled off his headgear. "Hmph! Game's good as over." He slammed down his headgear onto the bench. Sena hurried over with a frown as she took in Hiruma's expression and the fact that he just grabbed his bag and seemed ready to leave. "Whatever happens next, I don't care. I'm outta here."

"HUH…?!" came the surprising outcry of all of Deimon's football players.

"Until a few seconds ago, we had a millionth of a chance of still winning."

Unknown to everyone on the Devil bats, they unanimously thought the same: "Th-this guy thought we could still win…?!!"

"But now it's absolutely zero. All that's left for them is to kill time with their huddle." Hiruma hefted his bag strap over his right shoulder.

"Yeah, but we should keep trying until the end…" Kurita looked about ready to burst into tears as Hiruma began walking away.

Hiruma twisted his head back so he could look at them without needing to turn around, his expression having faded into a nonchalant one. "Do you think they'll say, 'They tried hard until the end'? Does it make you feel better to say, 'We lost but we tried hard'?"

"No, well…" Kurita twiddled with his thumbs, his voice getting much softer. "But it's not whether you win or…"

Hiruma gave him a deadpan look and abruptly cut him off, "We came to win. It's pointless to keep trying if you don't really think you can win." And with that, Hiruma walked away and the rest of the team huddled together to see who'll replace Hiruma as quarterback.

Sena stood frozen with shock as Hiruma walked past her. She heard everything he told them… She gave a fleeting glance to Ojo's side and clenched her gloved hands tightly into a fist. Her mind was made up. "Just a little more…" Sena turned around to face Hiruma who she noticed stopped. Deciding that nothing any more horrible happening than Hiruma walking out on them, she continued, "Um…just a little bit more…"

Hiruma threw her an irritated look. "Didn't you hear what I just said? About trying hard to the end…?" He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture to emphasize his point.

"I CAN BEAT HIM…" Sena's outburst obviously caught both of them off guard and she hurriedly continued before she lost her nerves. "I mean…I can probably beat him. Shin, that is." She looked him straight in the eyes. "A little more, that's all I ask…Just a little more."

It was silent for a moment. "So you really want to do it, huh…? Beat Shin?"

Sena's expression turned a little more cheerful. "Yes," she answered without thinking. She blinked and blushed, realizing that she was diving into bad habits again. "Hiiiii…Um n-no, I mean, nothing like that…" She worried that she sounded too arrogant when she answered previously. "It's just that I think I can almost get away from him or something…" She rubbed her foot-clad cleats together, glancing down and missing Hiruma's expression of irk.

Out of nowhere, Hiruma brought out several of his guns and shot them to the sides of Sena as she tried to get away from him. BANG! BANG! BANG! "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING YOU DAMN PIPSQUEAK?!' BANG! BANG! BANG! Sena's screams didn't let up until Hiruma put away his guns. He stared at her. "Feh." He turned his gaze to the rest of the Devil bats and with a louder voice, he commanded, "Huddle up!

Everyone returned to the field for the next play. It seemed harder than before, but Sena could feel the determination surging through her and the excitement flooding through his veins. It was almost as if she was getting faster and farther into beating Shin.

Almost as if to counter that claim, Shin grabbed Sena by the back of her jersey, wrapped an arm around her midsection, and dragged her down to the ground. The whistle blew to end the play and Shin easily stood up with Sena in his arms. He plopped her down and left to go back to Ojo's side. Sena gave him a weird look behind her eye shield and couldn't help but think, _he's been causing less damage lately_. She wasn't allowed to think anymore of it before Hiruma yelled at her to hurry up.

The next play started and the linemen held off each other and Sena zoomed right through the left side instead of the right. "HE'S GOING UP THE LEFT SIDE!" Sena raced to the end zone adrenaline pumping through her veins. It all came crashing down as she looked up to see Sakuraba only a few feet ahead of her; she couldn't stop. She collided with him full on headfirst and she could've sworn that through her shock, she heard something crack.

Screams erupted from every side of her as the two tumbled. Sakuraba ended up tumbling over the bench inside the resting area. On the other hand, Sena was luckier as she barely missed crashing into the outside bench.

The fan girls tried to rush at Sena, but the police offers got in the way waving their batons and Kurita immediately became a barrier as he towered over Sena, staring up at the crowd from behind her.

"This is terrible!"

"It's the worse!"

"What did you do to Haruto?!!!"

"HIIIIII!!!" Sena turned pale at the realization of what just occurred. Not only was she feeling guilty about it all, she couldn't help rubbing her helmet where she slammed head first into Sakuraba. Even if the helmet did offer immense protection (she knew it could be worse if she didn't have her helmet on) it didn't mean that it still didn't hurt.

Hiruma placed a hand on her shoulder. "Wow, they're really howling. Ignore them! It was his fault for going onto the field."

"Don't worry about it, S-Sena-chan…" Kurita tried to be comforting, but he was too baffled at the fan girls' reactions to really comfort her.

"It's chaos up there."

"Which hospital is he going to be sent to? I'm going to kill him!" Agon seethed. Obsessive fan girls were busting his ears and he just knew that Sena was also hurt thanks to that damn trash's idiotic move of entering the field when he's not supposed to.

"I can't believe he went on the field." Unsui shook his head in astonishment. A frown could be seen clearly upon his face. "Just what was Ojo coming to nowadays? If this is what their next generation is supposed to be, it surely doesn't seem too bright."

Ikkyu rubbed the area around his ears. The fan girls' screams really shrilled upon Sakuraba getting hurt. "Well, oni, Sena-chan seems fine. Looks like she'd just have a slight head sore from the impact. Oni, she's much tougher than to slow down because of that."

"Yes, she's been taking Shin's tackles all this time. She's fine, Agon!" Unsui threw his brother an exasperated look at he kept muttering darkly under his breath. "She wanted us to believe in her and so we will."

"Whatever." Agon blew out a puff of air and just glared down at the fan girls around him, who quieted after taking one look at him. He glanced at Sena and followed her gaze to -

"Why the hell is she always staring at Shin?"

"Hmm…?" Unsui and Ikkyu turned their attention to Sena and followed her gaze as well to see her looking at Shin for what seemed to be the millionth of times to them.

Irritation crossed Ikkyu's face. Childishly, he whined, "She looks more at him than she does us!"

Sena couldn't help the awe that spread through her. She felt it, the last play had made a difference. "He had me that last time. But next time, I just need a little more…" Yes…she could feel it.

Hiruma looked back at her and let out a chuckle. "Heh heh…That was a nice play." Hiruma gathered everyone into a huddle. "Okay! Hardly any time left. Shall we go out with a bang? Shin and Otawara have been fiercely guarding the middle. So we keep going to the outside…This time, we'll break through the center!" Suddenly reached out, Hiruma missed hitting Sena in the face by a few inches with his pointing. "Go as fast as you can! Just run straight ahead right after the snap! For them open with power and speed!"

"HUT!" And the play began. True to Hiruma's word, the linemen got their act together and cleared a path for Sena to take down straight through the middle. "They're charging through!" Kurita fought with Otawara and Sena stared straight ahead towards Shin. This time…a little more… Kurita and Sena versus Otawara and Shin.

Kurita managed to win the showdown. Crying out his signature: "Funnuraba!!" Kurita overwhelmed Otawara in strength. He managed to lower Otawara for a moment and used that opportunity to jump up and look as if he were aiming at Shin. In a chance of luck, Kurita managed to grab a hold of Shin, which stopped him for a moment and for Sena to completely break through the middle.

Sena could practically feel Shin behind her. _That's it. There's no escape_…Sena bit down harder on her mouth protector. _Wait, that's not it. Everyone's working hard to give me this chance! A little more…Just a little faster_… In a moment, something dawned on Sena. _Running away? Wrong! I'M GONNA BEAT HIM_! In that in thought, the most natural feeling overcame Sena. It felt like an eternity to her - a time where she felt utterly at home with herself. _I_… Sena felt her legs moving faster as fast as she moved as she ran away from a ravenous Cerberus. Her blood felt like it was fire, it felt like she was on fire. Her adrenaline kicked up on a notch and then she was gone only to come back to normal with the sound of a whistle blowing and the shout of: "touchdown" rang through.

"I…did it." Sena smiled before finally giving into her body's exhaustion. The Deimon Devil Bats rushed towards her, each showing their own joy.

Hiruma and Mamori knelt down besides Sena with Mamori busting out her first aid kit. Hiruma quickly intervened. It wouldn't do good if Mamori found out about Sena now. Especially now. "He's done. It's just exhaustion, that's all."

Kurita carefully picked her up and gave her a hug as gently as he could. In a soft voice, he said, "You just used yourself up, didn't you?"

"I'm sorry…" Sena found her eyes drooping as she couldn't help but snuggle a bit into Kurita's embrace.

"Hey, damn pipsqueak." Sena turned to face Hiruma as best as she could. Hiruma grinned showing his canines. "It only happened once. You tried dozens of times, and you only succeeded once. But you did it. You beat him!"

A smile broke out on Sena's face and she couldn't help but give a giggle of pure happiness as Kurita carried her away. Her eyes sparkled in happiness. She really did it. She really beat Shin.

Sena let out a sigh as she cruised against the wall. She knew she wasn't going to be back allowed in the game without a proper amount of rest. That last touchdown really took a lot out of her. A **SWSH** sound caught her attention. Sena snapped her head up and nearly reeled back in surprise.

Mamori stood there holding out a Gatorade bottle for her. She smiled as Sena reached for it. "Here you go…great job!"

_Hiiiiiii. Darn. Darn. Darn. Darn. Gotta change my voice._ Sena drank a bit and coughed. "Thanks…Mamori-" realizing just what she said and was about to say, Sena nearly choked. She coughed again feeling Hiruma's stare trying to pierce right through her.

Mamori looked surprised. "You actually know my name…" Sena gulped. "Sena." Sena froze and her eyes widened in horror. She knew – "…Are you friends with Sena-chan? Did she tell you about me?"

Sena didn't know whether to laugh or cry at Mamori's assumption that it was impossible for Sena to be Eyeshield 21. In her guy voice, Sena spoke, "Well, not friends exactly…I just met her during halftime." _Hopefully that's convincing enough_.

"That's right, Sena's been on an errand since halftime. I wonder what happened to her…?" mumbled Mamori, looking out at the crowd to see if she could spot her.

"Oh, if you mean the pipsqueak, she's taking photos from the stansd. It's easier to see the game above, you know."

"Don't call her a pipsqueak!" Mamori frowned at Hiruma who only waved his hand at her nonchalantly. "Well…I understand." Mamori sighed and turned her attention to Eyeshield 21. "If you see Sena, will you do something for me? Tell her, even if you're small you can still do big things."

"Yeah, sure."

Mamori's expression took on a forlorn look, similar to the one Sena remembered her having when she found out she made it into Deimon. "That girl…she's so timid and shy…If only she could have your courage to face challenges."

_Mamori-neesan…_

**TWEET**

Sena looked past Mamori and noticed rather dejectedly that Ojo got another touchdown. "Aww…they scored another touchdown on us."

Mamori quickly brought out her stopwatch. "Oh no, there's no time left…"

"GAME OVER!" Ojo White Knights 68 – Deimon Devil Bats 12. Tokyo League Spring Season. Deimon Devil Bats eliminated in their second game.

While the White Knights were celebrating, it was much more somber on the Devil Bats side.

"It's all over…" Kurita sank down until he was kneeling. Tears came pouring out of his eyes and the more he wiped at them, the more tears fell. "We finally won our first game…Now…the season is all over for us."

Sena could feel tears stinging her eyes the more she looked at Kurita. The reality of the loss was starting to set into her as well. _We're eliminated from the tournament…It was all or nothing_… Sena stood up and the bottle in her hand dropped as she could no longer keep a tight grip. _It's over_… Sena looked away as she heard Kurita let loose a loud wail of despair. _It's really over_…

The Deimon Devil Bats and the Ojo White Knights got together and bowed to each other. As Sena and Shin walked by one another to leave, Shin spoke, "Ojo's going to the Christmas Bowl!"

"…?!" Sena whirled around to look at Shin clearly but he merely walked away. _What was that about?_ Hiruma yelling her code-name snapped her out of her thoughts. He gave her a pointed look and without a word, Sena left to go change into her normal clothing.

She walked back to the group and notice Mamori waving to her. Smiling nervously, Sena hurried to the Devil Bats side. "There you are, Sena-chan!" Mamori greeted her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "C'mon, let's go."

As they all started walking towards the changing rooms for the Devil Bats, two people from the news agency came running towards them. "Excuse me, could we ask you…" went the lady news reporter.

"AH!"

Hiruma merely grabbed a hold of the camera's lenses, spreading his hand wide.

"Hiruma's looking out for me." Kurita wiped his tears with the back of his gloved hand.

"No way," came the resounding answer of the rest of the team.

**TADAA**. "YA-HA! NOW ACCEPTING NEW PLAYERS!" Hiruma had the words: 'Two touchdowns against Ojo! The Deimon Devil Bats' written across his hand. He grinned widely as the news reporters ran away from them and the fact that he knew his message would get across. He flashed his hand towards the team and they all bowed their heads in defeat.

"Knew it." After that, the group dispersed.

RING. RING. RING. Came the shrill noise of Sena's cell phone. She quickly answered the phone. "Moshi moshi."

"Where are you, Sena-chan?" Unsui's voice sounded over the phone. Sena looked at her surrounding areas and waved at her niisans, who caught sight of her. She watched as they fumbled for the phone and Ikkyu caught it in mid-air.

"Tell them bye and hurry up, Sena-chan. We'll wait on the side for you, oni!" The beep of the phone signaled that he hung up.

Sena lowered her phone and stared at it. Like most of the other times, she hardly got a chance to talk.

"Guessing you gotta go, pipsqueak?" Hiruma raised an eyebrow, staring down at her. She nodded timidly.

"I thought we were going home together, Sena-chan! It's those boys again, right?" Mamori looked noticeably upset with her face scrunched up with her mouth sticking out some as if pouting as well.

Sena only offered a feeble smile. She could've gone with Mamori, yes, but she still felt that she should go with the other boys. She doesn't get to see them as often as Mamori and hardly does she get to see them as a group like they are. If they're usually together, it meant that something horrible was going to occur, so seeing them together knowing that there was no intent of trouble, she wanted to take that opportunity.

"Oh, just let her go. You see her enough at school anyway." Hiruma raised an eyebrow at Mamori. Sena looked at him with wider eyes as he suddenly grinned at her, canine teeth glistening in the sunlight. "You can only go if you can get some information and report, pipsqueak secretary."

"I-I ca-can't do that!"

"Then don't hang out with them."

"Too bad 'cause she's coming with us." Agon appeared out of nowhere and glared at Hiruma who glared back. Unsui stood off to the side rubbing his temple looking irritated and Ikkyu was engaging in another glare contest with Mamori.

Unsui let out a sigh. "How about she comes with us and we'll talk about it later." He gave a meaningful look towards Hiruma who only scoffed as a response.

"C'mon fucking fatty, damn manager, let's go." Hiruma twisted around and walked away. He plopped a sugar-free gum in his mouth and began chewing harshly. "I said let's go," he repeated as neither Kurita nor Mamori moved.

"But!" Mamori turned to argue, but Kurita gave her shoulder a slight push shaking his head.

"Uh…See you guys." Sena bowed to them hiding her troubled expression. She really needed to plan a day to see if she could convince them to at least act civilized with each other.

"All right…Talk to you later, Sena-chan." Mamori gave her a quick hug before she left followed by Kurita.

Sena whirled around to face her niisans, a frown placing itself upon her lips. "Do you all really have to act like that to each other?"

Agon threw an arm around her shoulders and led her away, the other two catching up with Unsui walking alongside Agon while Ikkyu walked alongside Sena. "Yes."

"Let's go eat some takoyaki, oni!" Ikkyu spoke up, pumping his fist into the air. He didn't like it either when Hiruma and Agon were near each other. Half the time it meant traumatizing experiences.

Sena gave Unsui a helpless glance to which he sighed. "We'll try." Agon gave a barking laugh as if the motion was beyond ridiculous, but said nothing. He tightened his grip, a sardonic grin found its way on his face.

Sena frowned before allowing another sigh. She gave a small smile as Ikkyu began talking loudly to get rid of the horrid atmosphere that had suddenly swallowed the group. Sena knew it was going to be hard for them to get along with the Devil Bats. They have a hard time getting along themselves and they're on the same team!

However, this is what she dealt with for the past three years. A constant in her life that she knew she continued clinging to, one that was slowly fading. Sena leaned into Agon's one arm embrace. _Even if only for now, just a little more won't hurt_.

* * *

I'm not sure if I'm going to be updating within these next few months. I've lost touch with my Eyeshield 21 as the OOC can speak for itself, and adding in Ikkyu and the Kongo twins is still rather awkward. One day I'll definitely sit down with my Eyeshield 21 volumes and read through it and regain what I feel is lost. I can't make any promises as I've recently been going through many problems in life as an adoloescence, but I can say that I will try.

I thank all of you who still continue to read and enjoy Goal and I apologize that my writing is no longer up to par.

Have a Happy New Year everyone! Bless you all and hope that this year things begin looking brighter!


	12. Epilogue of the Prologue

Goal

Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21. That honor belongs to Inagaki-sensei!

Author's Note: Hello everyone, it's been a long time! Yes, I'm back to continue on Goal. I did notice that the one I chose ended up not continuing Goal, but I hope you don't mind that I'm giving it a try once more. I'm re-introducing myself to the series through the anime and I haven't been in the fandom for a long time. I hope to be able to create wonderful fan fiction for all of you and myself. So please enjoy chapter 9: Epilogue of the Prologue!

* * *

The tiny female brunette sighed as she stood in front of her mirror partially dressed in her undergarments and school skirt. She touched her ribs lightly, finger-tips grazing the bruises with a dejected gaze. _It's healing nicely_, a wry smile pulled at her lips. Her eyes stared intently at the bruises. _At least it should be better in a few days_.

Sena glanced at her clock, 6:40 AM, and promptly let out a loud: "Hiiiieee!" before rushing to toss on the rest of her uniform and scurry downstairs. With tears threatening to burst, Sena dashed outside and started heading to school with a shout of goodbye to her parents. _Oh man, I hope I don't miss the train_!

Barely holding back a sigh of relief knowing she made the train ride, Sena walked out of Deimon's Station and headed off to school, pain flared around the area of her ribs. Sena pat her midsection lightly, only to wince and clutch tightly to her ribcage. "Mmm…my ribs hurt," she muttered, "but I shouldn't have to go through this for a while…I hope. The spring tournament's over. No more thoughts of being in hell. I hope…" THROB. THROB.

"What are you muttering about?" A hand slapped Sena's back without warning, causing her to shriek in pain. Sena clutched her ribcage tighter and promptly keeled over. "KYAAA! I'm sorry, Sena! Are you all right? Should I call an ambulance?" Throughout the haziness the pain put her through; Sena was able to identify Mamori's frantic voice.

Taking a few deep breaths, Sena righted herself. I'm okay, Mamori-neechan. My ribs are still sore from the White Knights game…"

"…Your ribs are sore?"

Sena froze for a split second, panic grasping at her insides. Letting out a nervous laugh, she spoke, "I mean, Hiruma-san, um, he had me go take pictures in the stands again after I got the videos and batteries, and Sakuraba's fan girls can get really rough…hahaha…"

Mamori frowned. "You surprised me…It sounded like they made you play in the game. If they ever try to make you do something dangerous like that, I'll be sure to protect you!"

Sena lowered her head and shuddered as she thought of a confrontation between both Hiruma and Mamori. It was bad enough her niisans squared off against Hiruma, there's no need for her neechan to get involved too!

Sena and Mamori entered school and headed off towards the American football clubhouse, hearing the sounds of construction going on.

_What are they doing to the team room_…? Sena waved at Hiruma and Musashi, both nodding in acknowledgment.

"Hey, damn manager, did you finish editing the video?" was the greeting given by Hiruma as Mamori strolled up to him with the package holding it.

"Don't speak to me that way." Handing it over, she suddenly beamed down at Sena. "Oh yeah, I want to see the photos that Sena-chan took from the stands."

Sena's eyes widened and she turned to stare at Hiruma. Her wide eyes, combined with biting her lips lightly with her teeth gave her the look of a panicked puppy.

Hiruma smirked down at her and waved around an envelope in his hands. "Here, I had them developed."

She let out a thankful sigh and hunched over a bit. Sena could all ready see what happened to cause him to get pictures.

_Hiruma waved an old photo of Sakuraba from last year in his hands to the stands full of hormonal teenaged females. "I'll trade last year's photos of Sakuraba."_

"_Just for copies of today's photos?" _

_Cackles filled the air._

"Wow, you sure got a lot of different angles." Mamori admired the photos.

Ignoring her, Hiruma handed Sena another copy of the photos. "Get these in order by the end of school. Take out the ones that are just of Sakuraba. We can use them next year for trading." Hiruma whipped out one of the photos, showing Sena the picture of the beginning formation while waiting for the ball to be snapped. "The ones that show formation are important. You can see things that you don't get from the video taken on the sidelines."

Sena nodded and started heading for the team room. "Okay, I'll be in the team room until class starts…"

"No, you can't. It's being renovated."

Musashi came back with some of the blueprints. "Who's paying for the construction?"

"The principal." Hiruma grinned widely, showing off his canine teeth.

"…" Sena sweat dropped and resisted the urge to face-palm. _Of course_.

* * *

Class continued on like usual.

Sena leaned on one hand, a forlorn look coming across her face. _All of a sudden, it's so quiet_… RING. RING. With a sigh, Sena stood up and packed her books, getting ready for lunch. After putting her books in her bag, she proceeded to head out the door. She stopped and blinked as she watched Mamori appear in front of her.

"Hi, I brought lunch. I made enough for two." Mamori held out a wrapped bento and an umbrella. "And…it's going to rain so take my spare umbrella."

"Ah, thanks Mamori-neechan." Sena smiled and Mamori beamed back. Sena grabbed the bento and turned back into the classroom with Mamori following.

Eating a roll of sushi, Sena thought to herself: _All is well. Everything's back to normal again…_

Time passed and lunch ended. Class began again.

_I don't do anything. Nothing exciting has happened. It's just like any other day_… Sena glanced out of the window with a wistful look gracing her, giving her a sort of dazed expression.

Before long, school ended.

* * *

Sena whipped out the photos from the White Knights game that Hiruma gave her earlier that morning. _Gotta organize these photos_.

Sena sorted through them, photo by photo. She sweat dropped at the majority of the pictures. _There's a lot of photos, but most of them are of Sakuraba-san_. Sena placed more pictures in the Sakuraba pile. _This reminds me that I should go visit him in the hospital…_

Holding up another photo, Sena's eyes lightened in remembrance. _This is from the first touchdown_! She could see herself twenty-yards ahead of Ojo's defense scoring the touchdown. Sena couldn't help the laugh that came out of her, her eyes curving in delight. _The beginning of the game was so exciting_! Sena closed her eyes and imagined herself high-fiving her teammates. _It was exhilarating…_

More and more memories started resurfacing as she sorted all the pictures but the last one. For it was the last one that a jolt short through her. Sena gazed down at the picture that captured a shot of Shin.

Sena stared ahead for a moment. She felt a dull ache as she thought about the Ojo White Knights. She turned her head to the right to stare out the window, only to see the gray overcast. _It's over._ _Already. Only two weeks…it's been like a dream_.

Sena turned her gaze back to the photos, a picture of Ojo's Takami, Shin, Sakuraba, and Otawara catching her eye. _Right now the White Knights…They must be at practice, getting ready for their third game._

A feeling of despair crept upon Sena, the dull ache becoming greater. _Maybe if our team were stronger…we'd still be in the tournament. And we'd be out on the field_…

Without realizing it, tears began running down her face and a sob itself tore out of her. Sena rubbed her eyes to try and stop the tears. While she knew that there was still the fall tournament, there wasn't a guarantee that they'd last longer than they did in the spring.

A sharp slam and a yell startled her. "Aren't you finished with the photos yet, you damn chibi?"

Sena jumped, head snapping to the right to watch Hiruma and Kurita walk in.

Kurita walked over to Sena and placed down some sweets. "We didn't come here to rush you. But we can't use the team room and this is the only classroom that has a TV."

Sena clasped her hands together and hunched over a bit. In a small voice, she asked, "Why is it that only this classroom has a TV?"

"This was our class last year." Hiruma played with the TV wires, setting it up to connect it with the VCR.

_R-really_? Sena looked rather exasperated. _I wonder if he made them buy it_…

Having finished putting in the wires at their correct places, Hiruma turned around to point a finger at Sena. "Hey, once you're done organizing the photos, go home. Preparations for the Christmas Bowl have already begun."

"The fall champion goes to the Christmas Bowl!" Kurita added in.

"The real action is coming up. We've got to win in the fall."

"Ah…"

Hiruma flicked on the TV using its remote. "Anyway, we've got to do something about Shin. If we win the fall tournament, then at some point we'll face Ojo again."

Sena's face turned anxious. _I see…this is where the real competition begins_! Sena rose from her seat and grabbed her things. "I'll be going then."

"Bye Sena!" spoke Kurita. Hiruma merely waved a hand in goodbye and Sena was off.

Sena walked out deep in thought. Before she knew it, she was standing near the clubhouse looking at the side stepping latter and football lying on the ground holding an umbrella over her head. _They left it out again. But I guess it's the manager's job to put it away_.

Sena distinctively remembered Kurita explaining what to do: "That's to practice step work. It's an exercise to learn football fundamentals."

"…"

**A legendary football coach once commented on how athletes face challenges. He said something like this: "Everyone who plays on the field will be made to suffer from humiliation at least once or twice."** Sena couldn't deny the burning feeling that pulsed through her. She closed Mamori's spare umbrella and tossed it to the side. With an exhilarating feeling coursing through her, she began practicing on her side steps. **"There isn't an athlete around who didn't have to overcome challenges."** Sena slipped and did a face-plant. She rubbed her face with her sleeve, a pout on her face. Unknown to Sena, Hiruma watched her from the classroom window. **"However, the first-rate athlete will summon up all his effort to rise up to the challenge."** In the classroom, the TV flashed to Sakuraba. **"A mediocre athlete makes less of an effort and rises up more slowly. Losers are the ones who just lay on the ground…they don't even try to get back up."**

Sena tried the side step latter over and over, never giving in, never faltering. With the rain pounding down on her, she threw off the jacket she used that day and continued.

_I will do it! I will make it!_

Hiruma stared down at her, blowing a bubble with his sugar-free gum, and smirked.

* * *

And that's it. I am sorry for the shortness, but I'm slowly getting back into the groove. If anyone would like to give me constructive criticism, it would be most helpful! Plus, Monta's coming on next, and I didn't want it this to be paired off with the next on-coming chapter, which I promise will be longer. Thank you all for reading!

Also about pairings, I wouldn't worry about that now. I'm thinking of not having any pairings unless it's in some one-shot or I find spots to place it in Goal. Right now, I want to situate Sena into the American football world. No need to scare her off so soon!


	13. The No 80, Receiving Expert

Goal

The No. 80, Receiving Expert

Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21.

Author's Note: Just to let you know, all chapters are not beta-ed. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this new chapter! All of this is manga-verse.

* * *

The news broadcasting replayed scenes involving Sakuraba. Jari Productions. Haruto Sakuraba's Debut Game!

"Incredible, isn't he?"

"Not the guy from Jari…The pipsqueak next to him!"

"All right, why don't we pick up this guy too?"

"This'll be great – the mysterious hero."

**Eyeshield 21**!

* * *

_Yeah…hang on tightly_! Sena lightly jogged, holding onto an American football. _I should hold it like this when he hands it off_. She daydreamed about the beginning of a running play with Hiruma holding out the football for her to grasp. _But it's hard to grasp it with the palms of my hands_. Sena pouted when she accidentally dropped the football in the process. _Even though Ikkyu-niisan's been teaching me, I'm still hopeless_. Sena picked it back up.

RUSTLE. RUSTLE. "Hey, a little help! The ball!"

Sena's right ear twitched. Facing forwards, she held up the football. "Ball?" Her eyes zeroed in on a monkey looking boy, holding out his hand expectantly. It was a bit confusing for Sena as he wasn't looking straight at her, but she knew he was talking to her.

"Throw it here."

"…" Sena looked back down at the football. "Okay!" Sena tossed it towards the boy asking for it only for it to head towards on-coming traffic.

"ACK!"

A wide-eyed Sena let out a gasp, yelping, "Hiiiiieee! It's a hanging fly!" Her jaw dropped not a second later as the boy jumped up and easily caught the football. SNATCH. "Sugoi! Thank you for catching it."

The boy turned to look at her, an angry look crossing his face, only to change to a blush a moment later when he took a good look at her. Sena smiled at him. "Ah…haha. No problem." He pointed at the baseball ball lying on the ground near her. "I meant that ball right behind you to pass."

"I'm sorry." Sena scratched her cheek sheepishly.

"Heheh, it's fine!" The boy cocked his head to the side and point at the football she held in her hands and asked, "Hey, isn't this part of the rugby team's equipment? How come you have it?"

_Rugby? It's American Football_. Realizing that she was staring at him blankly, Sena bowed her head, a blush heating her cheeks. "I just wanted to get used to the ball. So I borrowed it to practice." Sena peeked at the boy, only to see him staring at her with starry eyes.

"You're really dedicated, aren't you?" he questioned. Sena looked at him in surprise. "Even on your way to and from school…that's maximum effort! That must be what makes the difference…I ought to work that hard too!" The boy clasped both hands on either side of the football, the ends fitting snuggly in his hands.

"N-no…it's no big deal." Sena could feel herself becoming more flustered. No one had ever come close to praising (isn't he praising her?) her in one go before.

The boy raised up the football, checking out its design. "It is too, MAX! This rugby ball seems like it'd be hard to hold onto unless you practiced…"

"It's a football!"

Sena continued to be amazed as the boy grasped the football easily with one hand. "Hey, look! One-handed!"

"Kakkoi! He's got it right in the middle!" exclaimed Sena. She hadn't seen anyone besides Ikkyu-niisan handle the ball like that before. "My hands are small, so I can only grab hold of the ends."

The boy let out a laugh. Grasping her hand, he helped Sena hold the ball. "It's easier to hold on where the laces are." Sena beamed as she could hold the ball easier. The boy blushed fiercely at the sight of the cute brunette.

A shout brought their attentions elsewhere. "Hey, ball boy! What are you doing?"

The boy jumped. Waving a quick goodbye, he said, "Gotta go!" He hurriedly picked up the forgotten baseball. "Ja mata, manager-san!" Being dragged away by one of the other baseball players, the boy yelled out, "We have a scrimmage today so if you feel like it, come and watch! You can see what I do!"

Sena looked down at the football and was silent before: "Hiiiieee! I forgot to ask him his name!" She hung her head, gloominess swirling around her.

She entered the school and said a brief hello to Musashi who passed by her with his co-workers.

_He caught that ball so easily…I've got to get more used to the ball_. Sena opened the door to the clubhouse where the construction all ready finished. _Maybe I ought to buy my own ball. I wonder how much it costs_. She paused at the doorway to gawk at the new inside. "Wow…if I didn't know better, I'd think this was a casino…" Sena's eyes roamed around, her gaze taking in the new additions to the clubhouse including the roulette table and slots in the corner. Sena let out a squeak at a sign that read: **WELCOME American Football Club DEVIL BATS **flashed on.

Mamori who walked up behind Sena couldn't help but shout in unison with her, "What the heck?!"

Sena swiveled around to see Mamori. "Oh, hi, Mamori-neechan." Sena saw her holding some posters. "What are those posters?"

Mamori gained a smug look. "Our secret weapon. Ta-Daa!" Just as Mamori went to unravel them, Hiruma grabbed one out of her hands and flung it open, ignoring Mamori's heated protests. "HEY!"

Sena stared. And stared. And stared. And promptly had to force herself to hold back a shriek of terror. **EYESHIELD 21. "Join us in battle on the field!" He scored two touchdowns against the Ojo White Knights! The hero from Notre Dame has come to play for Deimon! Now accepting new players**. _An entire poster dedicated to using me as recruitment bait_!

As Sena proceeded to gawk at the poster, Hiruma continued, "The Ojo game will be on TV tonight. Timed with that, these will help us with recruiting." He looked up at the lightened sign. "And we've simply redesigned the clubhouse too."

"'Simply redesigned' is one way to put it…"

"It's amazing…"

"Somehow it seems bigger inside."

Hiruma tossed them a casual look, a smirk twisting on his lips. "We've got to get a full roster of players who practice as part of the team. If we shoed up for the fall tournament with what we've got now, we'd lose for sure."

Kurita sweated. "Right – at the very least, we need a receiver. It's no good if none of us can catch passes."

At his sentence, Sena immediately thought back to the monkey boy she met earlier. Hiruma's next words dashed her hope of asking if he would join.

"If we're going to train someone, he may as well be tall. That can be all the advantage a receiver needs."

Sena pouted, a dejected feeling overcame her. _Doesn't matter anyway…he's all ready on the baseball team. But he is a good receiver, and he reminds me a bit of Ikkyu-niisan_…

Hiruma brought Sena out of her stupor and shoved a bunch of posters into Kurita, Mamori, and her hands. "All right, hang these up throughout the school. Twenty posters per person!"

"Don't we need permission for the posters?" Sena looked up at Hiruma.

"Just hang 'em up! I say it's all right!" Hiruma let out a cackle and Sena shuddered. No one would stand up to Hiruma besides Mamori-neechan. Anyone else, and Sena's certain they'd be terrorized for life. She doubted even the teachers tried to stand up to Hiruma for long. He made sure to stay within the rules, even if it stretches the rule a little too thin.

Mamori piped in, sensing Sena's apparent distress. "I got permission from the student committee!" Good ol' Mamori.

For the next half an hour, the four of them went around putting up posters. It was then Sena went to place one of the posters in her classroom.

"Hmmm…I wonder if people will take the time to look at these posters." Sena let out a sigh. "I guess it's better than doing nothing." Grasping a hold of the TV, Sena couldn't help but comment, "I wonder when the Ojo game starts." She took a closer look at the TV, only to see writing.

GO GOT IT! The Christmas Bowl. 1-2. Kurita. Hiruma. Musashi.

"Musashi…" The image of the older rugged construction worker popped into her mind. _Ah, can't be. He's too old! But_… Sena frowned as she recalled a memory.

_Kurita laughed and spoke, "This is the first time we've had three players since we started the club, right?"_

Her frown deepened. _Then_ _did that someone…quit? But why would they quit? Could it really be the same Musashi? It must've been lonely just Hiruma-san and Kurita-san after the previous member quit. And these two have been carrying the football team since then_… Sena looked out the window, watching students go back and forth to their destinations on campus. Her gaze traveled to where the baseball players were having their scrimmage. She watched the boy she met earlier make a spectacular catch.

"That's right…the baseball scrimmage." Sena placed her hands upon the window glass and leaned on it. _Maybe if I asked him to join…he could play for both teams, couldn't he_? "There's no hurt in trying!" Sena dashed off towards the baseball field.

* * *

All the while, Hiruma, Mamori, and Kurita were having their own conversation at the clubhouse.

"You know…Ever since you and Sena-chan joined the team…It sure has been lively here at the clubhouse." Kurita chomped down on the sweets.

Mamori sweat dropped and gave a small smile, glancing around the casino-like clubhouse. "It seems to me there's another reason why it's been so busy…"

"There's me, Hiruma-kun, Sena-chan, Mamori-san, and then with Musashi-kun, we're five, right?" Kurita counted happily.

Hiruma flipped through the yen dollars that the basketball players bet in his hands. "Give it up! What'd I tell you? You're not to say a damn word about him to anyone, you fool! It's bad enough the damn pipsqueak's catching on that he's actually him and not someone that shares the same damn name. Anyway, we're not talking about a kicker, are we? Right now we need a receiver!" Hiruma brought out one of his guns to clean it. "We'll do whatever we have to do to recruit players. Fliers, posters, a website…"

"What should the caption on the flier say?" questioned Mamori, tapping her pencil against her bottom lip.

"We don't want anyone who doesn't have any guts so…Make it 'Bad news coming your way!' and draw a devil bat!" Hiruma leaned back against his chair. "And then write, '**And they're called the Devil Bats**!'"

* * *

Sena wondered behind the field, eyes snapping back and forth, gaze darting around trying to find the boy. She heard shouts in the air after the batter hit the ball with the bat.

"It's short!"

"He won't be able to tag up."

Sena placed a finger on her lips and thought about the baseball terms her dad sometimes uses while watching his baseball games. _Tag up? I think that's when a runner advances after a fly ball is caught_? In that moment, her eyes caught sight of her target. He zoomed over to where the ball should land, hand outreached to catch it. Only he was getting in the way of another player. Sena watched as he caught the ball, her mouth opening slightly in awe. _That's incredible_! She continued to watch the play, only to jerk to the left to avoid a baseball that nearly collided with her. Sena clutched her chest, feeling her heartbeat skip a beat, a brief flash of fear freezing her. Cold sweat dripped down her face. That was way too close. _I wonder if their Sena sense is going off right now,_ she thought dryly, immediately thinking of her dear niisans in an effort to calm down. She quickly grabbed a hold of a helmet and put it on. _I hope they don't mind me borrowing this_.

She turned her attention back to the boy, only to see him being stomped on by his teammates. Her attention was caught when the two males next to her spoke to each other.

"Catching is the only thing Raimon is any good at…He could be a solid defensive player. But we can't really use him if he can't control his arm."

"In baseball you need versatility. This team doesn't need guys who are only good at one thing!"

"…" Sena looked at them. _So his name's Raimon_…

The one that looked like the coach stood up. "We're checking out everyone's batting today. There's so many first years, I can't tell 'em apart."

The other male, Sena deemed him most likely to be the captain of the team, spoke. "First years- raise your hands!"

Sena barely held herself back from the instinct to raise her hand. She was simply there to observe Raimon after all. There was no need to get involved and bring attention to herself. Sena sat a little ways away and watched the scrimmage, focusing on Raimon. When it looked like it ended, Sena took off the batter's helmet and placed it on the bench.

"HEY!" Sena jumped up in surprise from the sudden call from behind her. Swirling around, she came face to face with Raimon. "What are you doing here? Aren't you on the rugby team? Did you really come to watch me play?" Raimon looked awfully pleased to see her there. Sena bit back a laugh at how he looked. She tends to get the same looked from Ikkyu whenever she showed up to his football games.

"Well…" Sena rubbed the back of her head and proceeded to explain what she was really doing there. After she finished explaining, the both of them started their trek home.

"What? The football team?" exclaimed Raimon, "I'm not joining."

"I see…" Gloominess surrounded Sena again.

"After all, it would be embarrassing."

"Oh…" Sena bit her lip lightly, eyes downcast. The gloominess around her got worse.

"Oh! Don't get me wrong," said Raimon, "I don't mean that playing football is embarrassing." He held out his hands and waved them around frantically. "I would never make fun of someone else's sport." He let out a sigh and turned back to look forward. "I meant that it would be embarrassing for me to stop focusing on baseball. I've bet my life on my glove. My catching is gonna make me a hero someday!" There was such a determined feeling revolving around him that Sena couldn't speak anymore.

Sena stopped as Raimon continued walking on. "Ah well, see ya!" Raimon waved goodbye and Sena waved back before she scurried back towards the clubhouse where her senpais were no doubt waiting for her.

* * *

Sena glanced up, thinking: _Hm…I wish he'd join the team_. A BOING went off not even a split second later, only to ricochet off Mamori's notebook that she held up to shield Sena.

"No slacking off! Get to work!" Hiruma looked at her lazily.

"ACK!"

Kurita glanced at the wall clock: 5:30. "Hey! It's almost time for the game on TV!"

"Let's watch it on the big screen." Hiruma pulled down a blank white screen and at the projector aimed to it to see the images clearer.

High School Football. Haruto Sakuraba's debut game. Ojo White Knights VS Deimon Devil Bats.

* * *

"Huh?" Raimon looked up from cleaning his beloved glove and reading manga, to watch his television, only to see the same game that Sena, Hiruma, Mamori, and Kurita were watching at their clubhouse. "Rugby…I mean football?" He let out a HMPH. "Sorry, manager-san. I must stay completely focused on baseball even if you are cute. ACK. That seems wrong, she's kind of like what'd you call an adorable sister. Anyway, I won't let go of my dream."

"Sakuraba is a wide receiver. This is a catching position." That sentence from the TV certainly caught his attention. "I'd have to say that the essence of football is catching!"

"WHAT?" Raimon dropped his glove to clutch at his TV tightly. He watched as Sakuraba had some trouble catching a pass. "What was that? If it were me, I'd have caught that pass easily…" He continued watching and saw how many females cheered for him. "L-look at how popular he is…" Raimon could see it all play clearly in his mind. Him as number eighty catching the ball and having females scream out in cheers for him. A blush took over his face and steam blew out of his nose. His gaze traveled back to his glove and his sense took over. He let out a gasp. "No way!"

The announcer continued. "But Deimon's Ace is Eyeshield 21!"

"Eyeshield 21? That guy who everyone's been talking about lately?"

"This injury took Sakuraba out of the game," commented the news reporter, showing a clip where Eyeshield 21 slammed into Sakuraba.

…_I should go visit him at the hospital…_ Sena grimaced. She worried that she hurt him badly; he had been taken to the hospital straightaway.

"We have received this comment about the accident…From Eyeshield 21."

Sena paused. "Huh?" A sudden feeling of dread took over her. _He didn't_…

"Did you see my 'Homicide Tackle?' Accident? Now way! It was deliberate!" Sena felt cold as she began sweating, anxiousness taking a hold of her. "No mercy for anyone who gets in front of me! If you don't want to die, then stay out of my way! YA-HA!" _He did_…

"Is that really what Eyeshield is like?" Mamori seemed rather disbelieved.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Sena looked ready to cry.

"You've got it. Bet your _Agon-niisan_ loved that one." Hiruma cackled. "In football, intimidation wins. You have to show no mercy to your opponent!"

Crocodile tears trailed down Sena's face; she felt mortified. "He's made me out to be a villain…"

Kurita patted her gently on the shoulder for comfort. "It-It's all right. Nobody really takes this seriously."

If to prove Kurita wrong, a few miles away, Raimon shouted, "What a horrible guy!"

Sena let out a small wail as if she heard him.

* * *

Rumors began spreading about Eyeshield 21 rapidly the next day at school, mostly due to the news from yesterday afternoon.

_Everyone is creating their own impression of me_. Sena trembled a bit. _TV is pretty scary_… Crocodile tears trailed down her face once more. Sena had to deal with the Kongo twins bursting in her house and kidnapping her for dinner, she had a relatively hard time explaining to her parents why the twins were so far away from their home in the first place, with demands for her to tell them everything that went on and why Hiruma dared to tarnish her image. Agon was all for storming his house and killing him.

"_Oi, brat, didn't I tell you to call us if that fucker does something? Trash has a death wish."_

"_I'm shocked that I'm agreeing with him, Sena. He's masquerading around as you and everyone is none the wiser. You can get hurt if Hiruma provokes the wrong people."_

"_If that happens, you better tell us!"_

"Hey…manager-san!" called Raimon, waving towards Sena, breaking her out of memory lane.

"Ah, hello!" Sena cheered up at the sight of Raimon.

Using his feet to grab his classroom slippers, he commented, "Last night on TV! I saw it…" Crossing his arms with an angry look, "That Eyeshield guy is a real jerk."

Sena cringed, turning away from him. Gloom overtaking her once more.

Without noticing, Raimon continued, "First he injures a guy. Then he says, 'Did you see my Homicide Tackle?' There's no excuse for him!" His angry look softened as he glanced at her. "It must be hard on you. To have such an awful guy on your team."

"Heheheh…" Sena forcefully tried to laugh, only to do so half-heartedly and awkwardly. "Well, you know…You're right about there being an awful guy on the team." Sena could pretty much picture Hiruma cackling gleefully at her misfortune. "But if it weren't for Eyeshield 21…" Sena smiled, thinking back to her first game. "We wouldn't have won our first game."

"Oh yeah, right!" Raimon perked up at that mention. "The game against Koigahama was your first victory, wasn't it?" He got even more excited. "Let's celebrate! To your first victory! And to me making first string!"

"First string? Really? Congratulations!"

"No, actually, I don't know yet. I'll find out after school." His mood turned rather sour. "To tell the truth, first string might be too much to hope for. But I can probably work my way up from second string…" He suddenly leapt away. WHOOSH. "Hey…negative thoughts not allowed! Come to the baseball team room after school!"

Sena sweat dropped, waving her hand slightly in goodbye.

* * *

Raimon exited Sonson holding onto a few bags full of food and drinks. "Whoa…It might look bad if I've bought this much and I only make second string…" He walked along back towards school. "Well…I guess it's all right if we turn it into a pity party. It would be sweet to make first string right after joining the team…" His eyes shined as he thought about celebrating with Sena.

He got to school and hurried to look at the baseball results. Looking at the poster, Raimon was shocked.

* * *

Sena raced down to where the baseball postings were supposed to be._ Darn it. I'm late_. Sena let out a sigh. _At least I got to change into some athletic attire_. She came to a stop in the hallway she was supposed to meet Raimon. Blinking, she tilted her head slightly in confusion. "What, he's not here yet?" She walked over to the posting and looked for his name. "This must be posting…I wonder if he made it…" Sena continued glancing down the list. "Let's see…first string…"

"What're you looking at, Shojo-san?" Sena looked to her left only to see the two males from yesterday at the scrimmage.

"Ah…I was just looking for, um, Raimon?" Sena trailed off meekly, a questioning look upon her face at the expression the two males were making. "He's on the team, right?"

"He's not on the team." The coach lit up a cigarette, bored.

"Ah, you mean him, right?" The captain pointed out his name. Rai Mon Taro. _Hmm…His name's Montaro Rai_. Sena glimpsed at what string he was under: "Third string."

"Third string isn't really part of the team. They're more like an adjunct club of enthusiasts. Basically, they didn't make the cut."

"We had a lot of applicants. It's not bad, but we can't take everyone."

Sena could practically taste the distress building in her. Recalling his words to her, her chest tightened in a painful ache. "_I've bet my life on this glove…My catching is gonna make me a hero someday_!"

Sena walked towards the clubhouse, a pensive expression on her face. "_This team doesn't need guys who are only good at one thing_!" Sena's looked towards the opening of the clubhouse door.

"Bombard any tall guys with fliers, got it?"

"It'd be great to find a good receiver."

"…" Sena stopped in front of Hiruma. "Hiruma-san…Is it really such a problem if a receiver isn't tall?" Sena dared not mention Ikkyu. Though he was rather on the short side, he still had a good few inches on who she was thinking about. And, she didn't want to risk Hiruma's wrath. He tended to go homicidal when anyone other than him mentions anyone from Shinryuuji. Sena thought it was better than him just going homicidal when Shinryuuji was brought up.

Kurita answered instead, "No, it doesn't really matter."

"And in football, is it a problem if you just have one skill?" Sena looked up at Hiruma earnestly.

"Che, damn chibi, you've got it backwards. Can't blame you for this one though. Your bastards of brothers tend to be rounded rather than specialized." He looked rather annoyed. "We want guys who are good at one thing."

"It's a very specialized game, you see." Kurita added in.

Sena felt as if a burden was lifted from her shoulders. "In that case, may I have some fliers?" Kurita made a move to hand some to her, but Hiruma quickly swiped them away.

"You don't have to hand these out! You'll hang them up in the most useless places…It's becoming clear. You're no good at being the manager." Hiruma held out a rope. "Instead you're gonna start practicing! To start with, ever day you're gonna run!" Hiruma quickly tied the rope around Sena's midsection and around Cerberus's collar.

Sena once more broke out into a cold sweat. _I've got a really bad feeling about this_. She gazed fearfully at the growling dog, a whimper leaving her involuntarily.

Hiruma looked contemplative at his dog. "Wonder why this one's all riled up…" A grin began curling at the corner of his lips. He inserted the key to Cerberus's lock on his chains and within a few moments, he was off, dragging Sena along with him. "Kekeke, that's a pretty good pace."

"Will she be all right?" Kurita's concerned was waved off by Hiruma.

"That damn chibi. After she runs forty yards in 4.2 seconds, she always collapses. She can't access that kind of speed all the time. I want her legs to really know what 4.2 seconds feels like."

* * *

Cries came from Sena as Cerberus dragged her all over Tokyo. After a while, it seemed to her that he was looking for a certain person or thing. So without a choice, she ran as fast as she could to stop herself from being bashed into anything, thanks to demonic dog.

Within fifteen minutes, Sena found herself at the open-park near the school. Without sparing a moment, Cerberus jumped and latched onto: "MONTA!"

"WHAT THE HECK! CALL HIM OFF!"

"YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS HIM TO STOP!"

It took at least a few minutes to calm Cerberus down with Monta tossing him food.

"I'm really sorry about that." Sena had tears building up in her eyes. Monta waved his hands quickly.

"It's all right! It's all right!" he yelped. Calming down an instant later, he couldn't help but inquire, "You're pretty fast. Do you participate in the trainings too?"

"Yeah, Hiruma-san always gets me involved." Sena couldn't help but think of the irony in that statement. Always. She was always getting involved one way or another.

"Ah, an athlete…" Monta trailed off, gaining a forlorn expression. "I can't even call myself an athlete anymore." He leant back on one arm and held up the other, with his beloved glove on his hand. "See this glove? It was actually used by the pro ball player Honjo."

"_He happens to have an amazing catch. Whenever he makes a catch, the crowd goes wild!"_ Monta gained a faraway look, recalling. _"He's incredible. I'm gonna become a hero just like Honjo!"_

"_The laces in that glove look like they're through."_

"_Should I get another one?" Honjo looked up into the crowd and spotted Monta. Taking it off and with a toss, Monta leapt up and caught it,_

"_I've been practicing ever since then, betting my life on my catching." _

Monta wrapped his arms around his legs, using his glove to keep anyone from seeing his tears. "But now…I have to deal with my first failure in life. I realized that it happens to everyone at some point. I have to face that I'm never going to be a pro baseball player."

Sena looked at him, fists clenched under her knees, eyes wide with traces of tears in her eyes. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to help him.

Monta pulled himself together and stood up. "Aww, this conversation is getting to be a drag. I'm going home. Go ahead and eat whatever you want."

Sena watched him walk away. _Not this time. Not again_. Sena ran up the hill to the pass and yelled, "What about my team? We're looking for a player who can catch!"

"You mean, since baseball didn't work out, how about football? I can't run away like that."

"It wouldn't be like that," shouted Sena, fists clenching tightly, nails digging into her palm. "At first, it was the same for me…I really wanted to be a great manager. But I don't seem to be cut out for it. So instead…so instead I've been trying to play the game a little myself. It's totally different from what I had hoped, and rather painful, and scary, but…Now I'm having more fun. It could happen for you too! This doesn't have to be an end for you."

"…" Monta continued to walk on. "Thanks, Manager-san…I know it's silly, but I can't turn back."

Sena's eyes zoomed towards where Cerberus chomped at him earlier and promptly looked away. "Err…Wait!"

"I'm sorry, but I gotta go."

"No, it's just that…"

"Bye!"

Sena blushed and turned around to head back to school. _Oh dear…I hope he makes it home all right with no one bothering him_. She groaned, already feeling bad without making more of an attempt to warn him. Groaning, she turned around. "Ah, wait up, Monta-san!"

* * *

Hiruma walked around with Kurita behind him, carrying a stack of fliers and rolling along a cage full of footballs.

"It seems like there aren't that many tall first-year students." Just as Kurita said that, Hiruma spotted a rather tall first year. He immediately grabbed a football and threw it at his face, only for the first year to get slammed by it.

Hiruma continued to walk by. "Don't want him."

Kurita had a distressed expression. "S-sorry." He hurriedly picked up the football and trailed after Hiruma.

Hiruma continued on doing that with all the tall freshmen, and then burying them with fliers if they managed to catch the ball.

* * *

"Sorry about your pants…" Sena flushed a tomato red, twiddling her fingers.

"It's all right. Sorry ya had to see that, you did try and warn me and all." Monta said awkwardly. He opened his locker with one hand, the other handing his bag to cover the ripped material of his pants. "What stinks is that I thought I could wear my uniform home. But it's being cleaned."

"I know there's some spare football uniforms if you want?" Sena pointed towards the clubhouse. "I think there are some extras in the team room."

"Really?" Monta cheered up only to shake his head back and forth rapidly a moment later, having imagined a comparison between his baseball uniform and the American football uniform. "NO! I can't do it."

* * *

"Nobody can catch the ball if you just throw it at them out of nowhere." Kurita moped. Hiruma wasn't making it any easier in finding a wide receiver. At the rate they're going, they'll be lucky to find one within the time allotted.

"I'm testing their reflexes. If it's a cleanly thrown spiral, then someone might even be able to catch it one-handed…" Hiruma scowled, hands shoved into his pockets.

"Hey, is that Sena-chan?" Kurita perked up, having spotted her. Hiruma turned to look at her, and spotted the monkey boy walking slightly ahead of her.

"I'm onto you – you're strangely persistent…While I'm flattered that a cute girl like you wants me on her team badly, this doesn't really work out. You think if I'm not gonna be playing baseball, than why not check out football…"

"_Is it a problem if a receiver isn't tall?"_

Was she talking about that little pipsqueak monkey? Hiruma didn't hesitate to throw a football at the boy.

"YIKES!" Monta yelled out, having been forced to catch the ball with one hand. "What the –? Your teammates?"

Hiruma let a grin spread across his face, showing his sharpened teeth. With a devilish look and one fall swoop, Hiruma trapped a shell-shocked Monta into the cage full of footballs and headed straight for the clubhouse. "YA-HA!"

"Hiruma-kun!"

"Hiruma-san!"

Sena and Kurita chased after the two.

* * *

Hiruma let out a cackle as he tied Monta the same way he tied Sena when he first dragged her into American football and dragged him to the clubhouse, gleefully ignoring all protests to his treatment.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Mamori shrieked.

Hiruma looked slyly at Monta. "He wants to join the team. Uh…A first-year…What's his name?

"Montaro Rai. Monta for short."

"Monta, huh? That's a good name for him."

"What do you mean, 'He wants to join the game!'" Mamori cried out. "This is clearly against his will."

_Right, clearly_…Kurita and Sena thought in unison.

"Sorry about this. You must be in pain. Here, I'll untie this for you." Mamori began to untie the ropes binding Monta.

Hiruma's eyes narrowed. Reaching into his pocket, he started bringing out his book of threats.

Kurita and Sena went bug-eyed and gaped. _His book of threats_!

Throughout all of that, Mamori continued to fuss over Monta, and it looked like the monkey has come across his first crush.

_Please let us come out of this in one piece_! Sena cried in her mind, as Hiruma gained a rather vicious look due to Mamori's scolding.

* * *

_Thank Kami-sama_! Without any bloodshed because of earlier happenings, Sena and Monta headed home, having separated from their upperclassmen a few blocks prior.

"This is great…You can't even tell where the rip was." Monta glanced down at Mamori's clean sewing.

"Mamori-neechan sewing has always been good."

"Huh?" Monta turned towards Sena, the both of them unaware of their stalker. "Have you known her for a long time?" GRAB.

"She's a childhood friend." RUSTLE. RUSTLE. "Our houses are near each other so we've been friends since we were little…" Sena turned to look at Monta, "Eh!" _Where'd he go_? "Monta-san!" Sena began jogging around the area.

* * *

Monta struggled as Hiruma carried him over to the park playground. Hiruma dropped him and Monta instantly swung himself on top of the slide.

"It's you again! You gonna kidnap me again?"

"Don't get me wrong, pipsqueak. I kidnapped you because the "Big Boss" told me to." Hiruma lit up a cigarette.

Above Monta and Hiruma, Sena looked at them from around the gate. She paused and decided to eavesdrop for a bit. She hoped Hiruma wasn't about to do anything drastic to her new friend.

Hiruma continued: "The big boss knows that we don't dare to resist him. So he always gets us to do the dirty work for him!" The more he talked, the more Sena wanted to whimper. She had a feeling who Hiruma was referring to. She glanced over to Monta, only to see him enraptured by the story.

"Who's this big boss?"

Hiruma cackled and spoke, "He's Eyeshield 21!"

Monta had steam errupting from him. "THAT BASTARD!"

Sena's jaw dropped and tears leaked from her tear ducts. _Hiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee_! _This guy_…

"How dare he! I bet he even takes advantage of manager-san!" Monta slid down the slide, angry. "Why is that kinda guy the big boss?"

"Because he's the main man of the team." Hiruma's eyes were a bit slanted and a smirk was curling at his lips. Hiruma held the cigarette in his left hand, as he sat on top of the bench. Sena wondered when he started smoking. He didn't seem like the type. "Anezaki Mamori and Kobayakawa Sena joined the team because they fell for his football skills."

Sena felt like she could die. _What a load of bs_… She took a peak and Monta and rivers of tears cascaded down her face. _He looks so incensed_.

Hiruma continued on: "Is someone willing to take the captain position from him? Especially if someone is good at receiving…then it should…" Hiruma had to stop himself from cackling in absolute glee as he watched the emotions fly across Monta's face. Hook, line, and sinker.

You've been deceived! Sena's eyes widened as Monta fell into Hiruma's traps. You're way too gullible!

Monta shook his head rapidly to clear the thoughts of Mamori and Sena being grateful to him for helping them get away from that bastard Eyeshield 21. "No…no, I can't do that, I'm on the baseball team." Monta took several deep breathes. "After all I told mana- Sena-san, if I run away, it'll be uncool!"

"That's right, way uncool! But there's someone in this world who is…a "real man", that is willing to sacrifice his coolness in order to save a girl?" Hiruma looked like a devil – there was nothing else Sena could describe him with. Hiruma, himself, was smiling widely enough for both Sena and Monta to see his sharp canine like teeth.

Monta looked like he gained an epiphany. Sena barely kept herself from face palming. Deciding she had eavesdropped for long enough, she walked towards the two and heard Monta: "Please let me…think about it for one night!"

Hiruma let out another of his scary cackles and walked away, tossing his cigarette on the ground and stomping out the flame. He ignored Sena as she came to stand beside Monta, and just kept walking away.

"Monta-san, are you alright?" Sena asked as she came to a stop in front of him.

"Ehhhh, Sena-san! I'm fine." Monta snapped out of his daze and rubbed his cheek sheepishly. "Sorry about leaving you alone back there. Your, uh, teammate sorta kidnapped me again."

"Haha, yeah." Sena turned to the direction that Hiruma took, but saw no trace of him. "He's quite scary, no?" Sena closed her eyes for a few seconds and smiled brightly. "But, being with them is a lot of fun."

"Hmnm…" Monta took on another contemplative look for a brief moment. "Well, it's getting late. You should go home, Sena-san. It's not safe to stay out too long."

Sena's eyes caught sight of movement by the shade of the gates. _Dreadlocks? Agon-niisan_? "Ah, yeah." Sena turned to leave. "I'll see you later, Monta-san!" Sena waved goodbye.

"Uh…Sena-san! Do you want me to walk you home?" Monta looked at her with concern. "It's pretty late!"

"Er…" Sena's gaze darted once more to the person in the shade. She squinted her eyes to see a bit better as he stepped more into the light. _Agon-niisan_. "I'll be fine. A family friend is actually meeting up with me here to walk me home."

"Okay, be careful! MAX!" Monta bounded off.

"Thanks, Monta-san. See you tomorrow!" Sena called out. She stood there for another minute until she couldn't see Monta anymore. "You can come out now, Agon-niisan." She sweat dropped as she saw him appear next to her in a matter of five seconds. "I just saw you yesterday."

"Who the hell was that monkey trash?" Agon ignored her words. He glared down the path Monta took. "Was he trying to-" Sena cut him off with a shriek.

"NO WAY!" Sena knew he was referring to Monta asking if she wanted him to walk her home. Like her friend was even interested in her romantically.

"Just checking."

"He's a new friend I made today." Sena pouted, turned away from him. She started her trek home. Agon followed like a diligent guard dog. "Is it only you in Tokyo?"

"Che, why? I'm not good enough?" Agon sneered, before laughing as Sena flailed her arms around.

"You know that's not what I meant!" She couldn't help but feel exasperated.

"The two trashes were at practice. I had a date here in Tokyo today." Agon smirked. He patted her head as another pout made its way onto Sena's expression. He laughed once more at the look on her face.

Why did he enjoy teasing her about her nonexistent lovelife (and Unsui and Ikkyu's for that matter!)? Always talking about going on dates. It wasn't like she had a chance anyway, what with her niisans or Mamori-neesan scaring away all the guys that held an interest in her.

Agon patted her head a little more roughly. "Let's get you home. In the meantime, how about you tell your niisan why he felt like someone other than that fucking trash was bullying you?" His eyes took on a malicious glint.

"Hiiiiiieeee! It wasn't anything important. It's more like…" Sena continued on, desperately trying to stop him from doing anything drastic. There was a ghost of a smile on her lips because in her heart, she felt lighter. Today had turned out better than she hoped. The Deimon Devil Bats found a prospective wide receiver, she made a new friend, and she got to spend some time with one of her niisans. Most importantly, Hiruma-san seemed to be lighting up to the fact that she's friends with his most hated enemy. Sena finally smiled as she finished telling Agon about her day, and Agon took over talking, well, insulting whoever got into his way today. Life was good.

* * *

Monta, meanwhile, sat in front of his beloved baseball glove. "Shuhei eagle, Honjou Masaru. Number 80, catchin' expert. I've given it max effort, right? I'm sorry! I cannot become a baseball player. But now…there are finally some people who told me their team needs me! I'd like to try my luck on that team!"

* * *

Sena arrived early to the clubhouse and saw the door ajar. "Oh? Someone's already here?" She walked in slowly and saw the back of an American football jersey. 80.

Deimon Devil Bat WR (Wide Receiver). Raimon Taro (Monta). 40 yards (36m) – 5.0s. Bench press – 40kg. Number 80 – Catching Expert.

"Morning, Sena-san!" Monta turned around and greeted Sena. She beamed in happiness that he decided to join the American Football team. "This is Mr. Honjou's number 80!" He pumped his first into the air and yelled out: "I will defeat Eyeshield 21 and rescue you and Mamori-san!"

Sena barely stopped herself from face palming.

The two walked out to the field.

Monta laughed. "C'mon! Let's give training our MAX effort!"

Sena let loose a soft hmm. "We'll start by running!"

Both prepared to dash. "READY! GO!" And the two took off.

* * *

Well, hi guys. It's been forever and a half, which I'm sorry about. I gave up writing fanfiction after the last time I updated this story. The last two years of my high school were a killer time for me, and I've just started university this past fall semester. I never knew how hard college can be. I thought taking AP courses and doing clubs and stuff in high school was hard, still doesn't compare to the college work I'm getting. All in all, I'm going to be busy, and I doubt I'll be updating any time soon. Writing just happens on a whim nowadays.

I wrote the majority of this chapter about a year ago, and just thought about this fic now. I want to thank everyone who has been waiting for this fic to update, and people who still reviewed despite the last time I did update was nearly a year and a half ago. This story does have special meaning for me. It's over four years old and one of the favorite fanfictions that I ever wrote. It's especially the first chaptered fic that I tried to incorporate my own elements instead of just following along the plot word by word. Even though it still has those kinds of elements, I think I've gotten better in trying to make my own scenes or changing some wordings.

If I ever do get back into Eyeshield 21, I'll definitely pick up this fic again. More than likely, it's not going to happen, but there is always a chance. I actually quit watching anime and reading manga a year or so back, and just basically come on here or other fanfiction sites to read fanfiction. I'm a terrible ghost reader. I've been playing a lot of League of Legends these past two years, but nowadays, don't play as much anymore.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this update! It still sticks with the manga because Monta needs to be introduced, but I did try and add a few scenes and change a few words here and there. Over 7k words and nearly reaching 20 pages on MS. :)


	14. Declaration of War

Goal

Hey everyone! Long time no see! It's certainly been a long while. I struggled during my college year, but I'm finally finished for my first year of college! I'm quite happy about that. I also lost inspiration for this anime/manga, but I'm definitely trying to get back into it. I have all summer. I've also been busy exploring PC games such as League of Legends and Tera, so I've wandered off. But I'm back! Not sure for how long, but as long as inspiration flows, I'll keep on going. I have written some fanfiction within the past year, but those are reader inserts for the One Piece fandom, which can be found on my Lunaescence account (Kiseki Lin) if you want to check them out.

Thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting for an update, along with those who have reviewed even when it's been such a long time since I updated. I never truly forgot about this story, and thank you to many of you for those reviews. They really brought a good feeling to my heart after all these stressful months.

I hope you all enjoy this update!

* * *

Sena and Monta helped each other with several exercises. The two of them, along with Hiruma and Kurita, were training in the club house.

"Are you sure this is alright?" Monta questioned, a hand pressing down against Sena's face. He helped her with a neck stretching exercise. "I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?"

"It's fine," Sena said through clenched teeth, pushing against the force Monta was using. All these stretches hurt more than they should. She really needed to get the rest of her body in shape, not just her legs.

The two of them continued their exercises, switching to different ones every so often. Hiruma and Kurita did their own training. Sena fell from her position when the door abruptly opened.

"Sena-chan!" Mamori came rushing in. "Are you alright?" she fretted. Mamori helped Sena up slowly.

Sena let out a groan. "I'm okay…" She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, giving Mamori a smile. "I just wanted to work hard with everyone else!"

Mamori frowned. "Well, take it easy, okay? Don't push yourself too hard." She rubbed her fingers into the knots on Sena's shoulders. Sena relaxed into Mamori's massage. Both the females turned as they heard Monta start to crow out.

"Ow…my shoulders seems like it's out of whack…" Sena sweat dropped, watching him make a fool out of himself for Mamori's attention. She had to stop herself from giggling when Kurita went to help him out instead of Mamori. _Oh, Monta-kun_…she shook her head fondly. _But at least Kurita-san is happy. We're slowly gaining more teammates_. Sena smiled brightly at the thought. She was also happy that Monta decided to join the American football club. No offense to her senpais, but she did enjoy having teammates the same age as her who doesn't treat her cruelly.

Before her thoughts turned darker, Hiruma spoke up, "Oi, damn chibis – work on building up your necks…otherwise you'll get killed in the game." He continued polishing his guns.

"But the next game is so far away." Sena turn to look at Hiruma, and pouted when she realized she was being ignored. _Oh well_... Monta patted her on the shoulder.

Hiruma looked down at Cerberus who ran in with the morning paper. Quickly grabbing it and unfolding it, he scanned the sports section. His eye twitched. "THOSE DAMN SCRUBS!" Hiruma all but snarled, throwing down the newspaper onto the table. He was seething.

Sena and Monta leaned over. "Another bag snatcher? That's where we go running!"

"I bet it's those guys from Zokugaku."

"Zokugaku?"

"The High school across the river. Really, they're like a gang of thugs. It stinks having them so nearby…"

"Now that I think about it, Zokugaku does sound familiar."

"That's not the article I mean!" Hiruma slammed Sena's and Monta's heads together despite Mamori's outraged cry. "Look at the sports page!"

Sena's gaze found what Hiruma was talking about, the shock took away all her pain from the banging of her head, only to resurface in phantom pains. "Hiiiieeee! Ojo only won by 1 point against Sankaku?" Sena held her ribs in remembrance of Shin's spear tackle.

"A one point game!" Kurita wandered over. "That's pretty close." Kurita broke out into a cold sweat. The Deimon Devil Bats had such a hard time against the Ojo White Knights that for another team to have come much more closer than them scared him.

A tick mark formed below Hiruma's eye, his mouth twisted into a snarl. "Why'd their third round game have to be so close? Now we can't brag against scoring twice against them!" He scowled, barring his teeth. Everyone took several steps away from the angry blonde devil.

"Well, there's the publicity." Mamori piped in. "The fliers and posters are great, but what if we played a game in our own school yard?" she offered. The Deimon Devil Bats only played two games thus far. If they won that one, there would surely be more recruits – willing ones, anyway.

Hiruma took a moment for consideration before whipping out one of his many cell phones. In a matter of minutes, Hiruma did his tricks. "All right! It's set – a game this weekend!"

"So soon!" Monta freaked. He had only been an official member for a day, and now in a few days would be his first match! Monta gulped at the thought. Sena offered him a sympathetic smile. She knew exactly how he felt. Hiruma did that to her with both the Cupids and White Knights games.

"Che, well, can't do much other than start training." Hiruma marched forward and grabbed both Monta and Sena by the back of their shirts. Once more ignoring Mamori's protest, he tossed the two outside the club. "Damn, chibis! Go shop for equipment while you're out running!"

Hiruma let go and slammed the club door shut on his way back in. Once he left, both first years gave each other a look.

"So to the sports shop?" Sena spoke, tilting her head to the side. She offered a smile to Monta.

Monta coughed, blushing. "Sure!"

The two took off.

It took twenty minutes before they came close to seeing it.

"Hey, that's it!" Monta pointed it out. He dashed forward before Sena could say anything. "MAXIMUM EFFORT! RUN!"

"Hey! Wait up!" Sena called out, but Monta kept running ahead. She pouted. He always did get a little too excited. She went after him, but ran into someone. She felt familiar arms wrap around her. Glancing up, Sena froze. "Shin-san…"

"You…" Shin glanced down at the petite form in his arms. He stared at her, the familiarity striking him. "Are you Eyeshield 21?"

"Hiiiiieeee!" Sena panicked, but seeing Shin's stoic face remain unchanged, she calmed down. "Um…yes…" She bit her lip, eyes trailing down to his arms still wrapped around her. Sena could feel panic rise again and tried to break out of his hold, but he didn't budge. She wanted to cry. If her niisans or even Hiruma heard about this, someone was going to pay. Agon already wanted to attack Shin for her bruised ribs.

All the while…

Monta glanced back in Sena's direction, seeing her form close to an unfamiliar man. "What is she doing?" Monta cocked his head to the side. "Maybe I should go back, max!" He started to head towards the two but his attention was stolen, along with the cash given to them by Hiruma. "HEY! GIVE IT BACK!" Monta began his chase of the two young adults on the motorcycle.

"See if you can catch us, idiot!"

"Ha ha ha – it's a pretty good take!"

Sena turned her head at hearing Monta's shout. "Ack, the team's money!" Shin let her go. Sena immediately began to chase.

"Interesting…" Shin put on his gloves and took off after his rival. It took him only several seconds to catch up. Sena glanced up at him briefly before turning her attention back to the thieves. "There's a traffic jam on this side of the bridge. With our legs, there's no one we can't catch. You come up on them from the left. We'll attack them from both sides."

Sena could still feel the panic, but then took a deep breath. Deciding to trust in Shin, she nodded. "Right." With the speed that only they could do, the two were off, chasing after the thieves.

Monta paused, eyes widening in shock at the scene in front of him. It took a second before he shook it off and followed.

Following Shin's advice to a tee, Sena came in from the left while Shin came in from the right, scaring the thieves. They lost control of the motorcycle and would've died if not for Shin's quick reactions in saving them. The money flew out, but was saved by Monta's catching skills.

Sena smiled, relief flowing through her. "We did it!"

The three walked off from the site as the police came and apprehended the thieves.

Sena bowed to Shin. "Thank you so much!" Monta followed her lead.

Shin gave her another one of his piercing stares. "…So you found yourself a receiver? Come to the fall tournament completely prepared. Ojo will be twice as strong in the fall. I'll be waiting for you at the finals."

Sena smiled brightly. "I'll definitely look forward to it." She couldn't stop the tiny blush from appearing on her cheeks. _Shin-san, kakkoi ne…_ She could feel her heart pound just a little bit harder than normal.

With a nod, Shin headed off.

Monta shot her a teasing look before the two headed towards the sports shop to get the equipment Hiruma wanted.

"I'll be waiting for you at the finals." Monta tried to imitate Shin, but failed. The two of them were heading back to the club house, having done what they needed to do.

Sena giggled at Monta's act, but protested for Shin's sake, "He sounded way cooler than that!"

Monta laughed and elbowed her in the ribs. "You would know all about that, wouldn't you?"

"Monta-kun!" Sena blushed; her cheeks stained a rosy red. Monta laughed boisterously.

The two of them finally arrived at the club house. "Huh? Somebody's here?" Monta peeked into the doorway. He backpedaled quickly. "It's Habashira, Rui. He's the football captain, and the scariest of the guys from Zokugaku!"

"Are they the ones we're going to be challenging?" The two decided to quiet down and listen.

Hiruma laughed. "We're gonna rid the earth of all you scum!"

Habashira flexed his fingers, growling. "Damn you, Eyeshield 21! I'm gonna kill you!"

Sena nearly wailed at his words. _What was Hiruma-san doing?_

Hiruma cackled. "Oh, you think you're going to win?" He pointed at Habashira, taunting him. "Want to bet 5 million yen on it?"

Habashira sneered. "Yeah, why not? You're just a raggedy bunch that lost to Ojo! I'm the strongest linebacker there is! Shin? He's nothing!" Sena's heart skipped a beat hearing that. She clenched her first. He walked out past Sena and Monta. Without another thought, Sena ran in front of the departing cameleon looking thug.

"Shin-san is the strongest linebacker! The Devil Bats will meet him at the finals. And we won't lose against anyone else!" Sena stared straight into Habashira's eyes.

He merely sneered at down at her, placing a hand roughly on her head and pushed her down. "Learn your place, gaki."

Mamori rushed forward, but Hiruma stopped her. "Let her do this." Mamori was about to give another one of her outcries, but the serious expression on Hiruma's face stopped her. "He's a right bastard, but he won't harm her."

Sena broke into a cold sweat, but took a deep breath. She couldn't let him get away after defaming Shin like that. Not by scums like him, as Hiruma would say. With those thoughts swirling in her mind, defiantly, she spoke, "It won't be me needing to learn my place."

"Oh, and who's going to show me my place? You?" he mocked.

"Eyeshield 21!"

* * *

I'm finally onto volume 4! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! 5 pages on Microsoft Word. More will be on the way, but it's been a while since I've read Eyeshield 21. I'm going through the anime right now, as I type this story, to be honest. I really do miss this series.


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